Winde Rienstra has come a long way from being one the young hopeful to being featured as a main image for this fashion week. The theme of the collection she showed — Ithaka — recalls a different epic journey, the voyage home that took Odysseus ten years. But Homer also tells of the family he left behind, his wive that keeps on weaving one piece to keep the memory alive.

When we interviewed Winde a few months ago she already told us of her part in the multicultural project ‘Spinning a Yarn‘, where she held workshops with women from diverse backgrounds. Winde translated the handicraft traditions and techniques of these different cultures into a new story. The show opened with a video showing in kaleidoscopic detail the various techniques used and was soundtracked by another ancient tradition: a live ‘whistler’. The presentation consisted of a lot of the modern geometric shapes in wood and white silk that keep the continuity with her previous collections. But instead of being minimalistic these are now adorned with pastel coloured embroidery or are made from crocheted material creating a slightly more romantic look.

www.winderienstra.com

Text by Micha Bakker