Elzinga is an up-and-coming Dutch fashion label that recently took over Paradiso during Amsterdam Fashion Week. They debuted their latest collection on the all-girl punk band The Klittens, catching the attention of Forbes and many others. The collection speaks to and honours the nightlife scene while simultaneously reflecting the "silence" with this collection's simpler shapes.

We spoke to Lieselot Elzinga, Co-Founder & Creative Director of Elzinga, to get to know more about the brand.

Malaika for Also Cool: Tells us a bit about Elzinga. How did it start and how has it evolved over time?

Lieselot Elzinga: We started the brand Elzinga together back in 2018. Miro and I had just graduated from the Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Following the great response to our graduation collection, we decided to start a brand together. We got in touch with Parrot Agency, a design sales agency based in Amsterdam. They coached us through translating our grad collection to a more sellable product with the same rock-’n-roll energy and spark.

Now after releasing a few collections on MatchesFashion I feel like we have learned to work and reach our clientele. Our designs are definitely influenced by our experiences with our buyers and our clients.

Also Cool: What's the fashion and music scene like where Elzinga is based? How has that affected the label creatively?

Elzinga: Elzinga is based in Amsterdam. I was brought up in the middle of the music scene in Amsterdam. It's basically the core of the brand. The music scene in Amsterdam is small, but there is a lot of variety. Many bands are always sprouting from this tiny scene, and that is very inspiring to me as a designer.

I used to play a lot around the Netherlands from a very early age with my teenage girl band Fuz . As a girl group, we really figured out how to use fashion as a tool to gain more confidence and power on stage. If you are on stage, you want to convey a very direct and clear message. You want the moment you walk on stage to be powerful and you want the audience to react. This is basically our brand ethos; we want our designs to be simple and direct in shape, but still extravagant and a little rough around the edges.

AC: How did Elzinga decide to pair up with The Klittens for this show?

Elzinga: With our last show, we wanted to highlight the importance of live music and individual expression in today's society. We did our presentation in the legendary music venue Paradiso in Amsterdam, a place where big bands and performers took the stage (pre corona). It is also a place that nurtures the local music scene, a scene that has been hit hard by the coronavirus.

We choose The Klittens to play during our presentation first because we love their music, but second because they are a young all girl group that really needs to be supported in a man's world like the music industry. I have experienced first hand what it is like to be an outsider in the music industry and I really feel like we need to push for diversity as a brand.

AC: What are some of the label's inspirations? Musically and visually?

Elzinga: As a brand we are extremely inspired by different influences. Early garage music like Suicide and bands like the Cramps and the Breeders are a huge inspiration to us. We really find the DIY element in our aesthetic extremely important in our visual identity.

Visually I feel extremely inspired by artists such as Cleas Oldenburg, especially his early performance work he did in NYC called 'The Store' I also find inspiration in artists such as Keith Haring and Penck.

I like simplicity and direct expression when it comes to visual art, which also shows in our use of simplistic prints and shapes.

AC: What's something unexpected about the world of fashion that Elzinga had to learn along the way in order to succeed?

Elzinga: Something you definitely don't learn in art school is to think about your clients and the people who will buy your brand and will support you as a designer. We find it so interesting to listen to our clients feedback and in that way pin point what the Elzinga woman is about and how her life is and what she want to look like and radiate to the outside world.

AC: How can we best support Elzinga right now?

Elzinga: It's so important to support small brand and labels at this time. Like any other small brand, follow what we are up to, check out our new collections and projects and maybe consider buying one of our products in the future :)

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