Dutch designer Ronald van der Kemp lifted the spirits the morning of the 9/11 anniversary by flying the flag for American glamour — literally.
He presented his divine RVDK circular couture collection, which included plenty of stars and stripes, as a sentimental ode to New York in the ’80s and ’90s heyday, when giants Bill Blass, Nan Kempner and Jessye Norman, and fashion institution Barneys New York, were the arbiters of the city’s eclectic style.
“I had my start with Bill Blass and that’s where I learned that eveningwear can be comfortable, with pockets, and that’s where I met all the socialites,” said van der Kemp, who lived in the city from 1990 to 1998. “I worked as an illustrator with Barneys, with the Pressman family who were going for the best of luxury. And I met Nan Kempner — we did an event together — and all that changed my life,” he said backstage of learning about exquisite taste.
After 25 years in the fashion industry at labels in the U.S. and Europe, van der Kemp founded RVDK in 2014. He now works outside the fashion system, selling made-to-order pieces created from existing materials and handcrafted in Amsterdam, and he usually shows during couture week in Paris.
“I thought it was time to show my ethics to New York and to say we have enough clothes, enough stuff, we don’t need to make new things,” he said, showing off a silk gabardine jacket with 3D ornaments created from cut-up plastic bottles, broken ceramics, upcycled pin-back buttons and other objets trouvés, that was divadom at its best. “It’s all basically garbage,” he said.
Van der Kemp showed some quite extraordinary pieces, mixing eras and sensibilities, including a collaged maxi coat with an antiques store’s worth of tapestry, embroidered textile and animal jacquards that conjured the romantic exoticism of the 1920s.
A sculptural cream bustier dress with a sculpted hip, black duchesse sash and yellow waist rosette, meanwhile, was arch ’80s socialite, while a silver silk robe manteau with peak shoulders had a futuristic look that would have made it at home on Wednesday’s MTV VMAs red carpet. More celebrities should be wearing these fabulous looks, but of course probably won’t because there’s no paycheck involved. Oh well, one can dream.
Throughout the show, van der Kemp added humor — for example, having a few models carrying boom boxes to evoke life on the city streets, which can be just as stylish as life in the city’s most well appointed living rooms.
For a finale, he upcycled stars and stripes, showing every one of his models wearing a pair of fabulous jeans with American flag flares “to remind people to vote,” he said of recycling his own style first shown a decade ago when Barack Obama was the U.S. president.
“There is so much to go around in this world, you just have to use it,” van der Kemp said backstage, making a case for sustainability, a cause that doesn’t get as much attention on the New York runways as it has in the past.
Speaking of New York, does he see the same creative spirit today as he did then?
“There’s so much emphasis on front row…I want to focus on clothes.” He did so beautifully, doing more with less than many with much more.
