Fashion is all around us and has a strong impact on our behaviour. Arnhem Mode Biennale 2005 focussed on the factors that influence what we choose to wear. Not only the elements have an impact on the way we dress, the desire to see and be seen are determining in our choice of clothes. The feel of the material against the skin is just as important as the appearance of a garment. The main exhibition of 2005 visualised these influencers in a literal manner, reviewed here.

An essay on a tumultuous relationship with fashion by fashion writer Mrs. Mo Veld.

On a slippery ice rink in the gigantic, freezing cold winter hall in which Antony performed, work by the Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf was exhibited. To get a closer look at the designs from the Flowerbomb collection, visitors were invited to put on ice-skates and take to the ice.

Visitors got their feet wet in the rain hall, the first room of the biennale exhibition. Here, collections of renowned Dutch designers — including G+N Fashion Fugitive and Keupr / Van Bentum — were exhibited in splashing downpours of rain, only to be viewed from under the shelter of a big umbrella.

Visitors’ endurance was rewarded in the summer hall, beaming light and warmth in a garden with summerhouses and a swimming pool, which were the backdrop for work by cutting-edge Dutch designers including Jan Taminiau, Marlies Dekkers Sundressed and Spijkers en Spijkers.

The summer hall did not solely revolve around joyful and light subjects though. The work of Cees Krijnen, who showed an installation of a feminine dress in combination with a photograph in which a model in the same dress is portrayed amongst a set of enlarged dildos, stems from less happy feelings.

In a wind tunnel, visitors wove their way past clothing that seemed to have been designed to waft and flap.

With tousled heads of hair, visitors entered a hall where established fashion designers had created their own conceptual ‘design climates’ on several islands.