STATEMENTS: "Feels op garments"

In March 2024 a idea was born. I wanted to create a runway that wasn’t about trends or perfection, but about turning emotions into fabric. One year later, that vision came to life in my own atelier in Amersfoort. My first fully independent runway: Feels op garments.

It wasn’t about showing “a collection” in the traditional sense. It was about raw statements, directly printed on garments. But the words weren’t always sharp or crystal clear. Many were abstract, faded with time, or partly hidden, just like the emotions and thoughts they tried to capture. The show reflected the complexity of being human: feelings that don’t always translate, thoughts that slip away the moment you try to pin them down.

The atmosphere was pure chaos and pure focus at the same time. I had put out a public call, and within one weekend over 50 people had responded; not only models, but also production crew, stylists and volunteers. Most of them had never worked together before, yet they all stepped in to build this moment. My atelier transformed into a runway charged with energy. There was no distance between audience and performers. People could see the sweat, the nerves, the excitement. That intimacy made the show hit different: it wasn’t staged perfection, it was presence.

Backstage was a mess of last-minute fixes, tape on the floor. But that was exactly the beauty of it; nothing polished, everything alive. The performance in the middle of the show made it clear: BLEACHED is not just clothes, it’s movement, it’s struggle, it’s release.

Looking back, Feels on Garments became more than just a night. It became a blueprint. It showed me what happens when you take control, when you don’t wait for an invitation but create your own stage. It marked the moment Bleached Renaissance stopped being just an idea and started becoming a movement.

This blog is here to remember that first step. Not as nostalgia, but as foundation. Because everything I build from here still carries the same DNA: raw, honest, unapologetic.

Feels on Garments was the start — and it keeps echoing in everything I do next.