When Amsterdam-based fashion brand Daily Paper presented its first
collaboration with Vincent van Gogh Museum on Friday, the coming together
of the two Dutch icons not only fused streetwear with post-impressionist
art – it revealed fashion’s power to conceive identity and connect
communities.
The Van Gogh Museum, where the launch party of the collaboration took
place on Friday, is looking to expand its audience by working with Daily
Paper, a Dutch brand that built its success on expressing the voice of its
customers – a group of young people who felt unheard. The streetwear brand
was originally a blog founded by childhood friends Hussein Suleiman,
Abderrahmane Trabsini and Jefferson Osei in 2008, before the trio began to
print T-Shirts. In the past, the label focused several collections on
African culture inspired by Cape Town and Congo tribes, but now, with the
Van Gogh collection, the brand is turning back to its Dutch heritage.
In the same way as the collection sought to translate Van Gogh’s works
into the present and into its own garments, hundreds of Daily Paper’s
friends and family, creatives and loyal customers, flocked to the Van Gogh
Museum on Friday. With their lively vibe and street style, the crowd
certainly differed from the average visitor to occupy the museum’s
expansive network of floors.
In between shopping the collection and sipping drinks, visitors took
the time to enjoy the ‘real’ works of Van Gogh that were featured in the
apparel and presented on the same floor as the pop-up store. The museum’s
plan to reach out to new and young audiences seemed to work. “We found that
young adults like active cultural participation”, said Martin Van Engel,
programme manager of ‘Van Gogh Connects’, at the launch on Friday.
In its licensing cooperation with the Van Gogh Museum, Daily Paper
included some of Van Gogh’s radiant and colourful paintings such as
‘Irises’ explicitly as all-over-prints on its collection staple set of
cargo jackets and trousers. It’s also the first time the brand released
denim pieces in a collaboration, trying new techniques such as laser
printing drawings by Van Gogh on a pair of jeans.
Some apparel pieces struck a more serious tone, depicting lesser-known
works such as ‘Garden of Asylum’, which Van Gogh painted during his time as
a patient at an asylum. The shirt carried a quote by Van Gogh, who fought
for recognition as a painter during most of his life: “Success is sometimes
the outcome of a whole string of failures.” Another white t-shirt read: “I
would rather die of passion than of boredom”.
Some of these quotes printed on the apparel seemed to reflect the
sensibilities and story of the brand. Since being founded, it has grown to
a fashion label with around 60 employees, worn by star rappers and
streetwear aficionados alike, and will open its first store outside of the
Netherlands in New York in March. Storytelling has remained a strength of
Daily Paper since its inception. In an interview, co-founder Abderrahmane
Trabsini described how its collaboration explored the parallels in the
stories of the two Dutch creative forces.
Van Gogh’s work has become incredibly famous and recognizable over
time. When creating the collection, did you feel pressure to not fall for
cliches and to create something that was more than just ‘merchandise’ for
such an important Dutch icon?
No, not at all. If I want to make something, especially a collaboration,
I want to make it special, give a feeling of a unique piece outside of the
normal collection. As an example: We have the cargo set always in basic
colours, now with the collaboration we actually put Van Gogh’s painting on
it. That’s why I like doing collaborations – you want to make your standard
silhouettes something more special.
And you also tried to achieve this when choosing the works of Van Gogh
for the collection?
We wanted to play with the cliches and pick artwork that’s not so well
known, like the skeleton with the cigarette – a lot of people didn’t know
Van Gogh made that.
The short documentary presented today provided a first look at how you
worked with Van Gogh’s life story in your collection. Why did this
fascinate you?
When we did this project, we learned more about Van Gogh as a person,
which was a blessing because he had a similar upbringing as me in terms of
following his passion, hustling and doing it himself. He didn’t have any
mentor, he didn’t have the financial means. His paintings for example are
two-sided because he didn’t have money to buy a fresh canvas each time.
I always want to know, how did it start? How did it end up here? Just
like me sitting here, where I am now, it didn’t come overnight. It’s about
the journey, not the end goal. If I reach my end goal with my brand, it
wouldn’t feel like ‘yeaahhhh’, it would probably feel boring.
Van Gogh barely sold a painting during his lifetime. Could you relate
to this feeling of being the underdog?
We were kind of the underdogs at the beginning but I think now we have
a cult following who really likes Daily Paper for what it stands for. We’re
not the underdogs anymore. We want to give back and help people. If it
rains, it drops for other people. I share my knowledge with the next
generation, if I can help the next talent, I would love to. When that
person becomes more successful than me at my age, I am happy that I helped
push the youth further.
The generation before us never dreamt of being this big, I am curious
what the next generation will do after us. We’re putting Amsterdam on the
map, we’re showing that you have a lot of dope brands from this small city.
I am not just talking about my brand, I’m also talking about brands like
Olaf Hussein, Patta, Filling Pieces and others.
Is there any artist that you would you like to feature in your
collections in the future?
Kaws. The style is very futuristic – I like his artistic voice. If we
did that collaboration, I would make a slick print or a special toy.
Bild: Daily Paper | FashionUnited
