Mattijs van Bergen (1980) launched his namesake womens wear label in 2008. He was educated at the Institute of Fine Arts in Arnhem and continued successfully with a Masters degree at the prestigious Central Saint Martins College in London.

In 2012 Mattijs won the prestigious Mercedes Benz Dutch Fashion Award and the International Fashion Incubator Award. An international jury of fashion professionals praised the designs for the balance between creative vision and topical realism and felt his label was most likely to succeed in entering the international market.

Mattijs van Bergen’s signature is recognizable in his use of pleating, hand embroidered applications, layered fabrics and unexpected mixes of materials.

The new approach to luxury of Mattijs van Bergen is proving to be highly attractive to women. His decision to step away from the fast pace of seasonal fashion, and to focus on creating singular items of high quality, in both his prêt-a-porter line MATTER and made-to-measure items, is a refreshing approach to the demands of the fashion system.

His design vision is connected to his interest in research into the arts. In the collection Complementair, based on the works of the fellow Dutch master Vincent van Gogh, he created prints, knits and fabric combinations to resemble the lively colours and textures of Van Gogh.

For the exhibition Photo to Fashion Mattijs van Bergen and the Nederlands Fotomuseum initiated an extraordinary cultural collaboration. For the collection he delved into the iconic black and white photographic collection of the museum – e.g. Ed van der Elsken, Nico Jesse and Richard Tepe – to create a black-and-white collection of digital and silk-screen print, embroidery and textures inspired by some of Holland’s historic photography.

During his talk, Mattijs wil provide insight into his way of researching, the development of the collections, and his focus on craftsmanship.

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