Winkel biografie

Welcome to Fabula Vestimenta / Welkom bij Fabula Vestimenta

*Deze pagina en winkel zal ik verder in het Engels invullen, om ook potentiële kopers uit heel Europa te kunnen bereiken. Als je meer informatie in het Nederlands wenst te hebben, kan je mij een persoonlijk bericht sturen.*

In this post I will give you the background information about my shop.

I started making clothing as a hobby in 2000. Shortly after I got custom orders from people who saw me walking around in my own designs. Then, in 2004, I officially started my own brand: Faerytale Fashion. It remained small and provided in commissioned orders, specializing in the gothic- and fantasy scène.

In 2008 I put Faerytale Fashion on pause to go to University (I now have a master-degree in Philosophy). When I wanted to continue my brand in 2017, I found that the identity from Faerytale Fashion did no longer suit me, so I changed my brand around, with a fresh name, identity and ideology: Fabula Vestimenta (which means exactly the same as Faerytale Fashion). The reason for this change is that I have matured, and so did my designs. My designs now tell a backstory, because I found out that is what I value. I have thought very hard about what I wanted to accomplish and about what I like to do, then about how to combine my passions and interests in a way they strengthen each other. I want to make a change, ethically and socially, in the way fashion is produced and consumed. I want to spread awareness.

But beside the social issues, there are also ecological problematics to which I do not want to close my eyes. I want to express my concerns in this consumerism in my designs by incorporating old materials. Something that I did with Faerytale Fashion out of a need (and kept silent about), is now a value to me. I realize that I kept an enormous strength hidden from the public, something that I want to advertise, something that made me different from every other brand, back then. Now I am not alone, but within my own romantic and artsy style, I am still one in a very few brands using reused materials. This is my strength still.

A great bonus is that these reused materials give the design a true uniqueness and an amount of character that is not possible when using only new materials. But when I say incorporating, that is exactly what it is. Sometimes I find the most beautiful materials, which have become too fragile to use, because of their age, or which is simply not enough to make something out of. But combining them with new materials, makes them stronger and usable. And because of these old materials, every item will have its own story to tell. I do make an effort to buy sustainable materials, when I need to buy new ones, whenever there is a sustainable option to do so.

Looking back at Faerytale Fashion, I already adhered to a lot of those principles, but I never told their story. Everything was sold as if it was made from newly bought materials, even when it was an unique selling point to tell those true stories behind these items. I lacked the courage to do so. I was afraid it would diminish the value of my designs, when it would have in fact increased their value. Every story ended the moment the fabric touched my sewing-machine. Faerytale Fashions strength became its strongest secret, and secrets are hard to bring to light once they are carefully buried.
In this way, the phoenix-logo of Fabula Vestimenta has a double edge. On the one hand, it tells the story of my clothing: about how they rise from the ashes of tear-down clothes or from nature. On the other hand, it shows my resurrection as a designer; one who is consciously designing with a goal to let the materials tell the story of their former lives, while being restored in new glory.
I hope my designs will tell you the stories of their former glory and incorporate the spirit of that ancestry.

Much Love,
Natasja Dymphina van der Pluijm