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‘Intelligible garments'
‘Rony' is the name Monique van Heist gave her summer 2008 collection. Eye-catching pieces include a burly, unisex boiler suit and an innovative bag-top-dress. Rony's predecessors were Tina, Toni and Clive - all of them Monique van Heist's alter-egos. ‘I draw and write a little story about a character who seems interesting to me.' Somehow or other this approach always results in contemporary, highly wearable fashion.
Van Heist describes her practical style as ‘tomboy' and as straddling the boundary between beautiful and ugly. This designer from the Dutch province of North-Brabant also researches second-hand clothing, because she likes to work on the basis of classics.
Monique van Heist (b. 1972) completed her studies at the AKI Academy of Visual Arts in Enschede in 1996. In 2004 she showed her M.A. graduation collection, Tina, which she conceived while studying at the Fashion Institute Arnhem. Van Heist's preferred forms of presentation are performances or installations. For the Fashion NL: The Next Generation exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague in 2006 she stashed away her austere garments between empty cardboard boxes.
Monique van Heist's work can be found at Kiki Niesten in Maastricht, Beljon in Rotterdam and sprmrkt in Amsterdam. Her work will soon be available from Humanoid in Arnhem.