Arnhem's Radical Fashion

The real fashion buzz and energy this week was not, I'm sorry to say, at the CFDA Awards, where the usual suspects in American fashion gathered and applauded themselves in a heavily corporate-branded (Swarovski Awards, Geoffrey Beene Awards, you get the picture) partisan event that hailed the business of fashion rather than the creativity of fashion. No surprises. No inspiration. No fun. To me it was disappointing.

The real fashion inspiration-slash-shock took place this week thousands and thousands of miles away in Arnhem, Holland where the Arnhem Fashion Biennial program opened with a boom, bang and sizzle and independant forward thinking designers from all over the world gathered to show their stuff. No mention of business here. No corporate-sponsor-owned designer awards. Just plain amazing inspiration and pure fashion ideas.

Our friend Sarah, the proprietor of the best shop in Paris, Colette, sent me some fun photos she took at Arnhem over the weekend of some super cool vibes and inspiration for fashion's future. You can also read about more Arnhem escapades on Diane Pernet's Shaded View of Fashion.

More photos after the jump...