LCFMA22: Brave Hendrik and the fearless footwear you must see

The #LCFMA22 catwalk, showroom and exhibition, which took place as part of London Fashion Week launched from 17-19 February 2022. The celebration showcased projects of creative excellence and we applaud the passionate dedication of our students who have endeavoured to fashion a better future. As we look back on the incredible work showcased, we caught up with the graduates to find out more about their research, collections and hopes for the future. We spoke with Dirk Vaessen from MA Fashion Footwear, who has taken the internet by storm this Fashion Week with his innovative and fearless approach to footwear design. The designs force the wearer into unnatural positions which questions societies perception of 'normality.'

It’s London Fashion Week and the internet is flooded with catwalk images – your designs have been specifically highlighted and have gone viral. i-D Magazine’s TikTok of your catwalk has received over 20 million views! How does it feel to have your work viewed by so many?

First of all, in the beginning I had no idea what was going on as I did not have a TikTok account myself. A friend sent me a message saying, 'do you have any idea what is going on, on TikTok? Your work is going viral and you already have 5 million views!' It is surreal. In a way, I expected some reaction to it but I never expected it to go out in the world like this. I get messages on my socials from people all over the world. Besides all the positive reactions, there are also negative ones, but I do see this as part of my collection as a whole. My work is about developing your true self regardless of the rules of society and to be very honest, I would not be very happy if there were no negative reactions. It would mean that I am not doing anything new. Besides, I see my work as art and art should evoke emotions, both positive and negative.

Many publications are loving the obscurity of your footwear designs – specifically the way they are worn. However, there is so much more to these designs – can you tell us a bit more in depth about your designs and the story as a whole?

My collection is about searching for your true identity. In the time we live in now, it is easy to be considered weird if you do something that is not seen as 'normal'. Identity is a set of characteristics that is determined by others and the context in which we live this context will also determine whether we are successful and happy. However, this has a downside - it leads to a loss of self-awareness, to disorientation and despair. As a result, humans are more lonely than ever, love is hard to come by and living life to the full has become deeply problematic. This problem will develop further and further in the future and that is why I based my concept on my alter-ego 'Brave Hendrik' who lives in the year 2070.  Brave Hendrik will be a pioneer in the field of posture modification. He started working in this field because people's posture and the way they move tells a lot about their identity. I believe people are first recognised by their posture and way of moving.

I started taking pictures of myself in new poses. Then I started filming myself to capture new ways of moving. In the end, 6 ways of moving were chosen, and I started analysing which joints you use for the posture and in what way. When I had these answers, I had the ingredients to develop the footwear and in the end the garments.

What would you like to say to those who may be questioning the wear-ability of these shoes?

You can walk in the shoes but this collection is not meant to be worn. With this collection, I wanted to tell a story. I wanted to do something alienating to make people think again about certain concepts - but I would not dare to send people out into the streets with my shoes. I hope to exhibit my shoes and videos in museums and galleries in the future.