23-year-old Ruben Jurriën from Zuidoostbeemster has won prizes for his graduation project ‘Pak van mijn hart’. The fashion designer has won 10,000 euros as talent of the year to further develop and is already working on a collection for the Amsterdam Fashion Week 2023.
At home in his small sewing workshop in his parents’ attic, Ruben can hardly believe that he has won the top prize. “It still feels unreal and it’s great fun. And it gives so much confidence to move on,” he says.
He is not sitting still because he is already working on new designs. The fabric he designed is already laid out on a chair. A blue plaid made of ties that he will make into a suit. It won’t be a standard tight-fitting suit, Ruben isn’t into that. “I don’t like those slim, thin models on the catwalk. I like loose-fitting clothes that both women and men can wear. Not gender neutral but gender-free.” And everyone should be able to wear their clothes regardless of their build.
Ties
For Ruben, a suit is an expression of freedom and cheerfulness. From his clothes rack he takes a white tooled jacket and then shows pictures of his models wearing his creations. “They’re all friends of mine.” What is striking is the processing of ties. The tie usually represents how men should present themselves as man of the world.
“Why?” Ruben wonders aloud. “For me, a normal tie is something suffocating. Like: you have to wear a tie otherwise you are not respectable. But at the same time I think the tie is also very beautiful. Often well made and of fine fabric. It is the last decoration of the man .”
In the corner of his studio, Ruben has a crate with a hundred different ties. And not only there, because in a polo shirt he has at least 20 hand-stitched in width. “I’ve been working on it for weeks.”
In addition to his fascination for suits and ties, there is another theme in his fashion work. He has made a 3D printed version of his old stuffed rabbit. It is found in a lot of clothing and is also available as a pin, a kind of brooch. “For me, my sleeping bunny Toetie is a guardian angel. And also refers to the innocent, playful childhood. I try to keep that playfulness in this way.”
Ruben literally seems to grow out of his attic. He is also looking for a larger workspace in Amsterdam. The first step to perhaps an international career. So far, everything has gone a bit by itself, he says. “As a 9-year-old boy, my aunt gave me a sewing machine and she taught me how to make a purse and sew patches together. I’ve never wanted to do anything but make clothes since then.”