Each year Dutch denim brand G-Star Raw has awarded a prize to the most promising fashion graduate from one of the seven Dutch fashion academies. 2009's recipient was young Belgian designer Ann Boogaerts of ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnheim and, alongside the €10,000 prize, she took a trip to NYC to help with the G-Star Raw show at fashion week. As well as helping out, she chronicled her experience from beginning to end specially for us...
What does it mean for you to have won the G-Star Raw Talent Award?
It means a lot. It's an honour to be voted the 'winner' of this contest. I am very grateful for it because I had the chance to experience a lot and I've met some wonderful people. The media attention I got was enormous but being creative and working out of the spotlight is what I really want to do in the future.
What has happened to you since?
Right after the award I moved to Paris to spend a year at the IFM (Institut Français de la Mode). I had planned to go to Paris before I had won the G-Star Raw Talent Award and I felt it was important to stick with my plan. It's great to experience life in the fashion world in Paris - working and learning with and from new people.
Have you always wanted to be a fashion designer?
I have to admit and I know it's such a cliché, but yes! Maybe it's because I grew up in a stimulating environment with a grandmother in textile arts and a mother and grandfather who were both sculptors. Or maybe there was something in the air in Belgium....
Who inspires you?
Just two of the many: Roman Polanski and Maarten Baas.
What makes you different?
I don’t know, but if I want something to happen, it just has to happen. I'm never satisfied with what I have created first time. I always go over and over until it's 'perfect'. Often though I find the first effort was the best. What really makes the difference is the kind of air-pollution I breathed in during my childhood, I think.
What are you working on now?
I'm now working on a new personal clothing collection. I'm still at an early stage of the process, so after finishing my concept and mood, I'm starting to actually make it. I really love this part - to dream and create something new, so wonderful!
"Departure from CDG, Paris. I do love airports and captains, but watching all these funny little cars driving around really made my day."
"Almost there!"
"Jumped into a yellow cab at JFK airport. For a moment I felt like a character in Tarantino’s Death Proof. I feared my life and thought I was going to spend the rest of the week in a hospital. Luckily that didn’t happen. I arrived, alive, at the ACE hotel at Broadway, and I was impressed by its lovely design, warm-hearted staff, and fizzing atmosphere."
"I think they should encourage people worldwide to paint their facades like in NY."
"After visiting the local Starbucks early in the morning, off to the show-location at the Hammerstein Ballroom."
"Backstage at G-Star, preparing the brightly coloured garments for the pretty models."
"This was an amazing piece - a big cape for boys made from heavy, waxed cotton, finished with bright-coloured tape. G-Star also used this technique for trousers in dark denim, which looked very graphic."
"The ACE hotel lobby"
"Cupcakes in the morning to celebrate the birthday of the lucky girl, Fleur."
"Sleeping gloves"
"A candle in the Cooper hotel suite, where the G-Star welcome drinks took place. The room was very chic and the view was just magnificent...."
"So crazy that NYC has so much light that it makes the sky light up too. The sky had a kind of greenish-grey colour and the combination with some left-over snow it created a very odd sensation."
"After the Cooper hotel we went with the crew for dinner at the Indochine. The food was amazing."
"Showtime: rehearsals for the models."
"Preparing the show backstage: so many hands, faces and hairbrushes."
Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler, Agyness Deyn and Estelle were all sitting front row..."
"There were a lot people, the Hammerstein Ballroom was packed and the atmosphere was electric. The lively G-Star silhouettes in combination with the music, models and lighting made it into a spectacular show. The skirts were bouncy and the beats were up."
"Bright colours for boys: a beautiful knee-length jacket with revers, mixed with denim trousers."
"Bright colours for girls as well - an A-line skirt combined with a bright green jacket."
"This outfit I would love to wear next season: denim with a metallic coating, and a denim jacket with finishing in yellow tape, completed by the hat and the blue socks."
"Pleased faces after the show."
"Dinner with G-Star and guests at STK - a very nice restaurant in Meatpacking district. The big party took place downstairs after dinner."
"Mena Suvari and Kelly Osborne at STK"
"Taking a little walk after dinner and I found these tents a few blocks further."
"At the airport - 24-hour flower vending machine."
"The combination of being a bit tired after such an exiting journey and 6 hours of waiting before getting on a plane makes me an easy victim for consumption of useless overpriced products such as NY keychains."
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