"I have always been fascinated by the way people use style and popular culture to construct and tell visual stories about themselves.  For me style is a window into someone’s personality

and idea of him- or herself." 

            -Maaike Holvast

 

After studying Fashion & Management at the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and Styling at Amsterdam’s Academie Artemis, Maaike worked as a stylist, teacher of fashion styling, journalist, brand consultant, and researcher in Amsterdam.  Further pushing into the documentary approach to fashion, Maaike co-wrote the concept for CODE magazine and, in 2005, became its fashion editor for the first year of its existence. 

 

But to really engage in the dynamics of style as communication and to document the stories she was interested in – stories revolving around identity and belonging, and about finding the essence of a person, situation, or brand – film was the ultimate medium to master.  And so Maaike moved to New York City to study documentary film in 2009.

 

After graduating from the New York Film Academy in the fall of 2010, Maaike made a series of short documentary portraits called New York Style Stories that were broadcast online at Limboland.tv (‘Keri & Bella’ from the second series was nominated for ‘Best Reportage’ at the 2012 edition of Madrid’s ‘Urban TV’ festival).  She has also been making qualitative research videos for ‘Streative Branding’, an Amsterdam-based strategic design agency, as well as for Vlisco, the wax fabric company from Helmond.

 

Her diverse occupations have all examined the social expressions of others (ranging from brands to pop stars to people on the street) and have helped Maaike gain a specialized insight into the interaction between identity, style, personality, and self-image, as well as the relationship people have with clothing and brands.

 

 

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