Showcasing workwear at Nieuwe Instituut

Nieuwe Instituut is the eclectic Rotterdam-based national museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture. A breeding ground for collaboration, exploring new ways of envisioning the past and looking towards the future, the museum is one of innovation; encouraging questions and curiosity, reimagining the times we live in. And their latest runway show and exhibition, Workwear, running until September 10th, does just that!

The exhibition began with a leap into the future taking hold of the very narrative of the exhibition; a runway curated by Amsterdam’s finest Ninamounah. As established and up-and-coming designers showcased their work under the theme of Workwear,  designers both in and extra to the exhibition pulled up, such as Hardeman, Kaam Kari LA, Schepers Bosman, Das Leben am Haverkamp, HEH, Pablo Salvador Willemars and Camiel Fortgens. This show was a celebration of their various personal interpretations and manifestations of workwear, and the runway quickly became a space for their empowering creative energy to come to life. From some of our fave NS pieces from Pablo Salvador Willemars to the iconic Hound boots of Ninamounah, we also saw new extravagant works; such as a full plastic rendering of a body on window shades, and suits of every kind taking on altered symbolic personifications.

This, however, was not only a runway, as the Workwear exhibition is now on display with an amalgamation of vintage pieces, present pleasures and futuristic creations. It delves into the myriad of ‘uniforms’ used by groups of people in order to perform their allotted jobs. As you walk through the display you see the radical, eye-catching works of workwear that amplify an astounding notion of social clothing, as social categorisation. The workwear, as curator Eldina Begic sees it, does the opposite of fashion as we see it now, it does not propel self-expression but rather inhibits it; it speaks to conformity. Thus the exhibition is underscored by attention to functionality and utilitarian agents exemplified through clothing and through clothing worn by a large group of people. 

Upon first glance, the exhibition showcases a versatile selection of objects, from an astronaut suit to a beekeeper suit, and so forth. However, underlying these pieces we are made aware of the designers behind the work who have contributed to making these silhouettes accessible historically. And delving into the fashion history of it all, names such as Martin Margiela, and Yohji Yamamoto, jumpsuits by Aleksander Rodchenko, and the Red Coat rain suit by Nicola L are explored.  

Art and design have often been inspired by workwear, so this exhibition functions as a welcome spotlight on the roots of this inspiration: real life. And through exploring the ways in which a uniform – though ‘unifying’ – breaks through the harsh societal walls of class, gender, education and race, this exhibition ultimately asks, does it also work the other way around? Can fashion design contribute to a dream society?