After presenting shows in Copenhagen and Amsterdam, Reconstruct headed to New York for its SS19 show
If you aren’t familiar with the all-women fashion collective Reconstruct, it’s a name you should be looking out for. Founded last year by five friends – Laura Aanen, Alyssa Groeneveld, Kim Kivits, Michelle Lievaart and Sanne Verkleij – who met at Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam, the label was founded when the group found out the school wouldn’t be holding a graduate fashion show for their class. Choosing to throw their own guerilla style presentation, they decided to continue making clothes together – officially forming the Reconstruct collective.
Imagining life on a faraway planet called RE-4, the collective design for the Reconstruct Generation – basically, anyone who wants to join. “Reconstruct is not a brand, it’s a lifestyle and we want to involve everyone,” they tell us. They wanted to carry this message through to the SS19 show, making everyone stand to avoid the usual politics around sitting on the front row.
After presenting collections in Amsterdam (where Reconstruct was founded) and Copenhagen, the group showed in New York for the first time, after being invited by the CFDA. “We always wanted to go to New York, it’s so amazing. We see that there’s so much interest here, and we really fit it. The people we design for are in this city because it’s so diverse and everyone can be themselves,” Reconstruct says.
“We always wanted to go to New York, it’s so amazing. The people we design for are in this city because it’s so diverse and everyone can be themselves” – Reconstruct
For the collection – entitled Retrograde Orbit – Reconstruct pushed the futuristic aesthetic to the next level from the opening look – two models, in a conjoined black stretch jersey tunic, accessorised with sparkling-lens sunglasses that looked like they were reflecting stars. It continued throughout, with another model appearing in a sheer variation of a space suit, and others in puffy outerwear designed to look like food packs an astronaut might take to space. Elsewhere, the collective enlisted friend and longtime collaborator Studio Dennis Vanderbroeck, who previously worked with production powerhouse Alexandre de Betak of Bureau Betak, to choreograph the model’s movements.
Now on its fourth collection, the group says they have learnt so much since they first founded the label. Originally starting out with the nine members, the collective has now shrunk to five – “At the beginning, our collection was all over the place,” they explain. With a smaller group, the work has become a lot more focused. “We’re all so different but we’ve found a way to work together. Everyone has a different approach to fashion but that’s what works so well.”
Wherever Reconstruct jets off to next – “going to Mars… or Uranus,” they joke – the group want you all to come for the ride. Next, the group is setting its sights on London. “We want to go everywhere. Every city has its own energy and we want to channel that.”