Never has discrimination looked so beautiful. Sometimes a fashion statement says so much more than “I’m fierce.”
When Dutch designers Mattijs van Bergen and Oeri van Woezik joined forces for EuroPride, they knew they wanted to contribute something that spoke volumes. As visual artists, it was important for that message to be conveyed through the power of a single image.
Or in this case, a single dress.
The “Rainbow Dress” is 52-feet long, with a skirt made up of the flags from the 72 countries around the world where homosexuality is considered a crime. Appropriately, the “Rainbow Dress” is being modeled by world-renowned transgender model, Valentijn de Hingh.
While the skirt was constructed of flags from countries where being gay is illegal, the bodice of the dress was constructed from the three flags of the city of Amsterdam, so as to honor “the free spirit of Amsterdam and the safe shelter Amsterdam provides for lesbian and gay people all over the world,” said Van Woezik in an email.
After Amsterdam’s annual Pride Parade, Arnout van Krimpen and Jochem Kaan of the COC Amsterdam (a Dutch organization for LGTBQ rights) reached out to them and asked if they could do something interesting with Amsterdam’s flags. Van Bergen and Van Woezik had been friends for years, and they saw this as the perfect opportunity to put their creative minds together and build something truly unique.
Picture by Jochem Kaan
The concept of the dress is to take the idea of freedom of expression and turn it into a mirror that shows where in the world the freedom to be LGBTQ is lacking.
“Mattijs, Arnout, Jochem and I felt the need to do something impactful in the context of our craftsmanship. We all live in Amsterdam which considers freedom of speech and expression a universal right for everyone,” wrote Van Woezik.
Of the 72 countries represented on the skirt of the Rainbow Dress, 10 consider homosexuality an offense that can be punishable by death. In Yemen, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for having sexual intercourse with a man. In Qatar, Muslims can be put to death for extramarital sex of any kind. According to a 2014 report, certain homosexual acts can be punishable by flogging, a fine, or prison time in Sudan.
As a port city, Amsterdam has always been a safe haven for people from all backgrounds and of all orientations. The dress is meant to be a reminder to citizens that while the country encourages freedom of self-expression, its citizens should also be proud and supportive of that message.
Such freedom should not be a privilege that only some countries’ citizens get to enjoy — it should be a given. Hopefully this bold statement will get the necessary politicians to say “yes” to the dress.
Click here for the original article.
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USA Today
PublicationsValentijn de Hingh has long used fashion to get her story across. But recently, the transgender model used her celebrity to amplify the stories of others in the LGBT community.
As part of the opening walk for Amsterdam’s annual EuroPride Parade, de Hingh — the parade’s first trans ambassador — modeled a patchwork gown made of flags from 72 countries where homosexuality is still outlawed, effectively transforming the celebration into a moment of protest.
The statement-cum-call-to-action was fashioned by designer Mattijs van Bergen and artist Oeri van Woezik in partnership with the COC Nederland, an Amsterdam-based LGBT advocacy organization dedicated to global LGBT equality as well as the decriminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity.
In an Instagram post, de Hingh explained that the dress was still a work in the progress and that the collaborators hoped to replace individual flags with rainbow flags as legislation evolved.
For now, Dutch photographer and director Pieter Henket was present to capture the original tribute, which he shot in front of Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.
Click here for the original article.
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Huffington Post
PublicationsA Dutch designer is making waves across the internet for a dress, designed in conjunction with EuroPride festivities, which is making both a fashion and political statement about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights on a global level.
Dutch fashion designer Mattijs van Bergen and spatial designer Oeri van Woezik presented the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress on Friday, which was created via a collaboration with Amsterdam. The bodice of the dress, worn by transgender model Valentijn de Hingh, was made with the image of the Amsterdam flag.
The capital city of the Netherlands is known to be a safe haven for queer people. However, the rest of the gown is composed of flags from 72 countries around the world where it is illegal to be gay.
“Historically, Amsterdam has always been a safe haven for those who were not safe because of their ideas or because of who they were,” Chairman of COC Amsterdam Peter de Ruijter told The Huffington Post. “We wanted, however, to give an activating message, that this role as a safe haven is not automatic. It needs to be supported and upheld by the Amsterdam citizens from a shared understanding of equality for all… Given the current influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa the dress signals to the Amsterdam citizens: contribute, involve yourselves, connect.”
Click here for the original article.
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Vox
PublicationsHomosexuality remains illegal in some way in 72 countries around the world. Not only that, but 12 of these countries allow the death penalty for homosexual acts.
A transgender model protested this injustice with a beautiful, powerful image in which she wore the flags of countries that still ban homosexuality — turning their symbols of hate into a rainbow:
Here is a map of the countries known to ban homosexuality, based on a 2016 report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA):
Enforcement in these countries varies — some only ban male homosexuality, laws and enforcement can be different within different local jurisdictions, and a few have laws that aren’t frequently or at all enforced. But even having these laws in place is something that defies the most basic expectations for LGBTQ equality.
Click here for the original article.
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El Pais
PublicationsEn una mezcla de arte y protesta política, dos diseñadores han creado el Vestido Arcoíris, una pieza compuesta por 72 banderas que representan todos los países en los que la homosexualidad es ilegal y puede ser castigada judicialmente. En 12 de estos países, además, es causa suficiente para aplicar la pena de muerte.
El vestido fue presentado el pasado 5 de agosto en el Museo Nacional de Ámsterdam, aunque la idea surgió días antes durante la celebración del EuroPride, que en esta ocasión acogía la ciudad holandesa. Entonces, desfilaron a modo de crítica esas 72 banderas que ahora han recuperado para la confección de la prenda. Detrás de ella están el diseñador de moda holandés Mattijs van Bergen y el artista Oeri van Woezik, que crearon el vestido en colaboración con COC, una organización holandesa que trabaja para defender los intereses de hombres y mujeres del colectivo LGBTI.
Al proyecto se ha sumado además el fotógrafo Pieter Henket, encargado de realizar un retrato del vestido en la Galería de Honor del Rijksmuseum frente al famoso cuadro La ronda de noche de Rembrandt. Según Van Woezik, se escogió esta localización porque en la obra se representa el pináculo de Ámsterdam como símbolo de una ciudad libre y comprometida con la libertad sexual. La modelo que ha posado con el vestido también tiene un importante peso simbólico. Se trata de Valentijn de Hingh, la primera modelo transgénero en ser contratada por IMG Models, una de las agencias de modelaje más importantes del mundo.
El diseño del Vestido Arcoíris cuenta con dos partes diferenciadas. Por un lado, el corpiño, confeccionado con la bandera de la ciudad de Ámsterdam, y por otro la falda, que mide más de 15 metros y está compuesta por las banderas de los 72 países en los que ser homosexual se considera ilegal. Cada vez que uno de estos países cambie sus leyes, y legalice la homosexualidad, su insignia será sustituirá por una bandera arcoíris.
Entre estos países se encuentra Yemen, donde hombres casados pueden ser sentenciados a muerte por tener relaciones sexuales con otros hombres; Nigeria, país en el que algunos estados también han adoptado la pena de muerte; y Mauritania, donde hombres musulmanes que participen en relaciones homosexuales pueden ser lapidados hasta la muerte, y las mujeres encarceladas. Desde que se creó el vestido, Belice ha despenalizado la homosexualidad. 72 banderas se quedarán en 71, y la de Belice se reemplazará por una bandera arcoíris.
Click here for the original article.
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Queerty
PublicationsA team of Dutch designers has created a dress made with the flags of 72 countries where being LGBTQ is still illegal, and in some cases could get you killed.
Fashion designer Mattijs van Bergen and spatial designer Oeri van Woezik collaborated on the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress, along with LGBTQ rights group COC Amsterdam, and in conjunction with EuroPride festivities. It was unveiled at the COC Shakespeare Club in the Amsterdam Museum on Friday.
The bodice of the dress, worn by transgender model Valentijn de Hingh, is made from the Amsterdam flag. Amsterdam is known as an overall welcoming place for LGBTQ people. The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2001. The Equal Rights Law, enacted in 1993, banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, public accommodations and more. Transgender individuals are allowed to legally change their gender, although protections on the basis of gender identity and expression have not yet been enacted countrywide.
The rest of the 52-foot long dress is made up of the flags from the 72 countries where being LGBTQ is illegal, including ten countries that have the death penalty for homosexuality, such as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.
Photographer Pieter Henket documented Hingh wearing the dress in the Rijksmuseum.
After Amsterdam’s annual Pride parade, Arnout van Krimpen and Jochem Kaan of COC Amsterdam reached out to Bergen and Woezik to see if they could do something interesting with Amsterdam flags, Upworthy reports.
Van Bergen and Van Woezik working on the dress. Image by Jochem Kaan.
If a country should change its laws, legalizing homosexuality, then they will update the dress by adding a rainbow flag in the place of that country’s flag, reports COC Amsterdam.
“Historically, Amsterdam has always been a safe haven for those who were not safe because of their ideas or because of who they were,” Chairman of COC Amsterdam Peter de Ruijter told The Huffington Post. “We wanted, however, to give an activating message, that this role as a safe haven is not automatic. It needs to be supported and upheld by the Amsterdam citizens from a shared understanding of equality for all…Given the current influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa the dress signals to the Amsterdam citizens: contribute, involve yourselves, connect.”
Watch video of the dress being modeled and photographed below.
De Hingh also gave a TED Talk several years ago about the gender dichotomy and her decision to have gender reassignment surgery. Hingh was the subject of a television documentary, Valentijn, following her life as a transgender child, from the ages of 8 to 17.
Click here for the original article.
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Art Daily
PublicationsDutch fashion designer Mattijs van Bergen and spatial designer Oeri van Woezik presented their Amsterdam Rainbow Dress in collaboration with COC Amsterdam. The unveiling took place on Friday, August 5th, at COC’s Shakespeare Club in the Amsterdam Museum. The dress, measuring over 50 feet, features the flag of the City of Amsterdam and the flags of 72 countries where ‘homosexuality’ is still punishable by law. The dress emphasizes the importance of openness and inclusivity that Amsterdam offers to LGBTQI people. Model Valentijn de Hingh presented the dress and photographer Pieter Henket made a promotional photoshoot at the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Rainbow Dress
The dress is a co-creation of fashion designer Mattijs van Bergen and spatial designer Oeri van Woezik. The dress incorporates the national flags of 72 countries where homosexuality is still penalized under criminal law. The body of the dress features the flag of the City of Amsterdam, emphasizing the importance of Amsterdam to remain open and inclusive to LGBTQI-refugees who are persecuted because of their sexual or gender identity. “The idea came up spontaneously when the flags that were part of the Pride Walk were offered to us. With this dress we wanted to translate the international message of the flag parade during Pride Walk / Pink Saturday to a local statement of community and connection in Amsterdam”, says Arnout van Krimpen of COC Amsterdam.
Van Bergen and Van Woezik stress the importance of freedom of expression: “Being allowed to be yourself, doing what you feel is right, is essential for personal happiness and development. It is truly worrying to see that freedom of love and expression is still restricted in so many countries. Gay pride is not just about parties and celebration, it also offers momentum to make clear what is of universal importance to all people.”
After EuroPride 2016
The Amsterdam Rainbow dress will become part of a yearly ‘Amsterdam LGBTQI Freedom Ceremony’ during Amsterdam Gay Pride. At the ceremony the flags of countries where homosexuality has been removed from criminal law will be replaced by rainbow flags. Flags of any new countries who criminalize homosexuality will be added to the dress.
Amsterdam
Throughout history Amsterdam has been a ‘shelter city’ for people who were not safe because of their ideas or who they were. “Amsterdam as ‘safe haven’, even for LGBTQI refugees, is not something that ‘exists’ spontaneously. Openness and inclusivity needs to be actively supported and upheld by the citizens of Amsterdam from a shared understanding of equality for all”, says Peter de Ruijter, chairperson of COC Amsterdam.
COC’s Shakespeare Club at the Amsterdam Museum
The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress was presented at COC’s Shakespeare Club. In the past two weeks the Shakespeare Club was a central hangout, stage, and cultural hub during Europride 2016, in Amsterdam. With the Shakespeare Club, the original name of COC in 1946, COC Amsterdam and COC Netherlands celebrated their 70th anniversary. Peter de Ruijter says: “The connecting energy during two weeks of Shakespeare Club was fantastic. With this, the volunteers of COC Amsterdam can further contribute to the openness and inclusivity of Amsterdam by engaging in new collaborations inside and outside the LGBTQI-community.”
Click here for the original article.
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Upworthy
PublicationsNever has discrimination looked so beautiful. Sometimes a fashion statement says so much more than “I’m fierce.”
When Dutch designers Mattijs van Bergen and Oeri van Woezik joined forces for EuroPride, they knew they wanted to contribute something that spoke volumes. As visual artists, it was important for that message to be conveyed through the power of a single image.
Or in this case, a single dress.
The “Rainbow Dress” is 52-feet long, with a skirt made up of the flags from the 72 countries around the world where homosexuality is considered a crime. Appropriately, the “Rainbow Dress” is being modeled by world-renowned transgender model, Valentijn de Hingh.
While the skirt was constructed of flags from countries where being gay is illegal, the bodice of the dress was constructed from the three flags of the city of Amsterdam, so as to honor “the free spirit of Amsterdam and the safe shelter Amsterdam provides for lesbian and gay people all over the world,” said Van Woezik in an email.
After Amsterdam’s annual Pride Parade, Arnout van Krimpen and Jochem Kaan of the COC Amsterdam (a Dutch organization for LGTBQ rights) reached out to them and asked if they could do something interesting with Amsterdam’s flags. Van Bergen and Van Woezik had been friends for years, and they saw this as the perfect opportunity to put their creative minds together and build something truly unique.
Picture by Jochem Kaan
The concept of the dress is to take the idea of freedom of expression and turn it into a mirror that shows where in the world the freedom to be LGBTQ is lacking.
“Mattijs, Arnout, Jochem and I felt the need to do something impactful in the context of our craftsmanship. We all live in Amsterdam which considers freedom of speech and expression a universal right for everyone,” wrote Van Woezik.
Of the 72 countries represented on the skirt of the Rainbow Dress, 10 consider homosexuality an offense that can be punishable by death. In Yemen, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for having sexual intercourse with a man. In Qatar, Muslims can be put to death for extramarital sex of any kind. According to a 2014 report, certain homosexual acts can be punishable by flogging, a fine, or prison time in Sudan.
As a port city, Amsterdam has always been a safe haven for people from all backgrounds and of all orientations. The dress is meant to be a reminder to citizens that while the country encourages freedom of self-expression, its citizens should also be proud and supportive of that message.
Such freedom should not be a privilege that only some countries’ citizens get to enjoy — it should be a given. Hopefully this bold statement will get the necessary politicians to say “yes” to the dress.
Click here for the original article.
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Gay Star News
PublicationsTo highlight the predicament of LGBTs living in places where being themselves may be illegal or even life-threatening, Dutch womenswear designer Mattijs van Bergen and artist Oeri van Woezik constructed a ‘rainbow dress’ made from the flags of 72 countries that outlaw homosexuality.
The flags were said to be collected by COC, a Dutch organisation for LGBT men and women. Van Bergen and Van Woezik then went to work to piece the flags together to form a giant dress.
Van Bergen described his creation as ‘a statement for equal rights and against homosexual prosecution.’
The dress was worn by transgender model Valentijn de Hingh in a photoshoot with photographer Pieter Henket.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIkngClA8C9/
Henket said that he chose to shoot the dress in front of one of the most beautiful paintings in the world, ‘The Night Watch’ by Rembrandt, inside the Het Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
De Hingh was EuroPride’s first transgender ambassador.
Modeling since 2008, the 26-year-old Amsterdam native had walked down the runway for major fashion houses such as Comme des Garçons and Maison Martin Margiela.
She is also the first transgender person to have ever been represented by IMG Models.
‘That little lady wearing the big dress is me,’ the model wrote on Instagram. ‘Every country that changes its legislation will have its flag replaced by a rainbow flag. Let’s hope this dress will represent a patchwork of rainbows sooner rather than later.’
Click here for the original article.
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The Independent
PublicationsFor Europride 2016, this fantastic flag dress was created to show how far we still have to go for LGBTQ rights around the world.
Images of a dress made from the flags of countries which still ban homosexuality, have already been shared 1000s of times.
In a post to Instagram, the photographer Pieter Henket explained that the dress is made up of 72 flags for the 72 countries in which homosexuality is still banned. In 12 of these it comes with the death penalty.
The flags were part of the opening march of this year’s Europride, and they were then collected by Cultuur en Ontspanningscentrum (COC), the oldest centre for LGBTQ rights in the world. COC joined up with designer Matthijs van Bergen and the artist Oeri van Woezik to create the dress. The dress was modeled by Valentijn De Hingh, the first transgender model to be signed by IMG models, and also Europride’s first trans ambassador.
The shoot took place in Amsterdam’s prestigious Rijksmuseum, in front of the Rembrandt painting commonly known as the Night Watch (1642).
Speaking to Indy100, the designer Mattijs van Bergen explained how he and spatial designer and artist Oeri van Woezik came together for the project.
He described the other parts of the rainbow dress, which in addition to the national flags include the flags of the city of Amsterdam.
Van Bergen also discussed the strength of the collaboration.
The dress is intended to be a living art work. As well as a reminder of how far the world still has to go to achieve equality before the law for all people, the intention is for the dress to be updated as the laws against homosexuality are changed. Writing on Instagram, Valentijn de Hingh explained:
Click here for the original article.
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