Monument is a fanzine dedicated to the “Dutch Wave”, a group of Dutch fashion designers who created international fame around the turn of the century. Each number is dedicated to one designer or design duo. This second issue focuses on the work of the duo Keupr/van Bentm (Michiel Keuper and Francisco van Benthum). Between 1997 and 2001, they challenged the fashion industry with their surprising and colorful statement collections. Monument is a project by stylist and fashion researcher Mary-Lou Berkulin and graphic designer Karen van de Kraats.
In Monument, images and texts from various archives are combined with new interviews and photography. Each issue has its own unique design and editorial approach, completely in keeping with the designer to whom the issue is dedicated. Central to this paper monument for Keupr/van Bentm is the work that they made between 1997 and 2001. A conversation between Mary-Lou and Keupr/van Bentm has been supplemented with quotes and texts from articles from the archive and a new long-read, written by fashion researcher Laura Gardner.
In addition to original images from the designers’ archives, Monument also contains newly created photography. For this issue Mary-Lou collaborated with photographer Roos Quakernaat. She took pictures in the depot of the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, where the most special items from Keupr/van Bentm have been carefully stored. In addition, together with Mary-Lou, she created a new fashion series in which she combines her own photography with images from the designers’ archives into surprising collages.
In this issue:
Issue 3 is dedicated to Oscar Suleyman–the fashion label of Oscar Raaijmakers and Süleyman Demir that added some irresistible chic to Dutch Fashion arond the turn of the century. Monument is the first publication that is entirely dedicated to their body of work.
This edition, Monument focuses on the duo’s intriguing fictional, historical, and real-life muses. As Monument facilitates dialogue between past and present, replicas of classic Oscar Suleyman looks have been recreated in collaboration with the designers to fit contemporary muses like writer Tatjana Almuli, social phenomenon Gia Bab and actress Nazmiye Oral, who were photographed by Woody Bos and Abel Minnée for their contribution ’Shot From Home’.
The magazine features many images from the designer’s archive, as well as a biography–and two shorter pieces about their use of fur and the role of the muses in their work–alongside contributions by fashion researcher Aïcha Abbadi, whose piece touches on the elusive attraction of the fashion industry, and how it influences not only women, but also the ambitions of young designers. Tatjana Almuli has contributed a piece about how the fashion industry has shaped her dreams, and how the fitting sessions, in particular wearing the replicas, were a very special experience for her.