Urban Foraging

Faced with ecological urgency, we traverse through the remaining wild layers of our cityscapes, on the search for a new relationship between fashion and nature. Can we bring forth a material culture of connection and change through rewilding our clothes? This we discuss with Sjaak Hullekes of Dutch fashion brand Hul Le Kes. The following fashion story was photographed by Annelie Bruijn in Amsterdam Noord where city and countryside merge, and the wilderness of plant life is still felt and present.

Photos by Annelie Bruijn, styling by Anouk van Griensven, words by Dörte de Jesus

Sjaak, how does the practice of urban foraging resonate with the spirit of your work?

Today, many people do not know the origins of the things they eat, wear or use and do not trust in their tastes. I think it is important to know that our planet provides us with many beautiful things. Fortunately, more and more people are starting to grow vegetables in their gardens again. It would be great if they also understood that their linen, cotton, and hemp fabrics are grown in a similar way as well as the plants used to colour and dye their fabrics and garments. In that way, I see a lot of similarities with the practice of urban foraging. I believe that we all should experience the origin of raw materials again so that we can understand the effort that it takes to create a garment from a plant. Giving back value to fashion is a huge part of our work.

When I read about your process, the words regeneration and reverence come to my mind. You work with leftover materials and create an extended lifecycle for each of your garments, increasing their beauty as time passes on. How is the way we interact with our clothing influenced by the memories we ascribe to it?

Unfortunately, at this moment in time most people are not influenced by the memories and histories of their clothes. I hope that it will start to play a role again in people’s lives – like in the principles of wabi-sabi, for example. I think fashion has something magical, it can show people ways of thinking without saying a word. Fashion also enables us to share our memories with the world, and that we should use them in a better way.

We should cherish our garments more, and see them as a part of our soul and not our ego. In Western societies, we are used to dressing up to show our ego, our outer (and often hollow) shell. When we start to cherish our garments more and see the memories that come along with it, we will dress our true selves; our souls. Use fashion to dress your soul, not your ego.

In October last year, you launched a collection in collaboration with the ReShare Store of the Dutch Salvation Army – made of discarded clothing and dyed with waste from restaurants. What were your thoughts behind working with natural dyes and following the principles of wabi-sabi for this particular project?

I think it is sad to see how quickly people in Western societies are done with the things that they wear. As soon as there is a little spot or stain on a garment, people tend to throw it away. Clothing has become so cheap that people don’t see the actual value anymore. At Hul Le Kes, we believe that signs of wear or stains can make your garment personal; it becomes yours. People should cherish these personal accidents more – something we can learn from the principles of wabi-sabi.

For the Salvation Army project, we worked with white garments that had stains. Usually, people don’t want to buy these garments second hand as they think they are dirty. To turn the stains into something beautiful, we naturally dyed the garments with kitchen waste from restaurants. We try to show people how to take a different look at what is currently considered ugly. By looking at things differently, we will start buying differently, and our paradigms will start to change. We need new paradigms to change the world for the better.

You can find more information about Hul Le Kes here.

Team:

Photographer
Annelie Bruijn @ Visonary Agency

Digital
Barnaby Irish

Styling
Anouk van Griensven @ NCL Representation

Hair & Make-Up
Suzanne Verberk @ NCL Representation

Talents
Ina Patelski
Lieke @ Ulla Models
Kael @ Elvis Models

Credits:

Page 1: Jacket by Fant via Atelier Sukha
Page 2: Worker coat & linen pants by Hul Le Kes
Page 3: Shirt by Girls of Dust via Atelier Sukha (left), jacket & scarf by Humanoid, pants by Can Pep Rey
Page 4: Scarf by Fant, pants & shirt by Girls of Dust via Atelier Sukha
Page 6: Woolen sweater by Rue Blanche via Atelier Sukha (left), shirt by Schueller de Waal, dungarees by Hul Le Kes
Page 8: Over shirt by Hul Le Kes, double shirt 1 Off Paris (left), fisher hat by Hul Le Kes, trench coat by 1 Off Paris, flair jeans and shirt by Kings of Indigo (right)
Page 9: Dress by Schueller de Waal, catsuit by Schueller de Waal x LPRD (left), shirt by Schueller de Waal (right)
Page 11: Jacket by Hul Le Kes (left), jump suit by Hul Le Kes, bag by Hul Le Kes x Reshared, penholder by Atelier Sukha