A conversation with Garment

‘I am my magazine.’ – Georgette Koning

Her career began as a jewelry designer and she actually never aspired to start a magazine, until she started writing. After working for fashion magazines like Vogue and L’Officiel, Georgette Koning made the step and published her own magazine: Mirror Mirror.

Mirror Mirror is an independent beauty magazine from Amsterdam that is mostly about images. For Georgette, beauty is the starting point in both editorial and photographic content. Instead of working for a brand, she is the brand. Her drive to create and her hunger for images is visible on every page of the magazine.

‘On average, people look at an image in a magazine for one second’, says Georgette. Her goal is to make it three.

‘Selling air?! That’s something I’m good at!’ – Nena van Veen

Starting as an intern at Glamour, Nena got what every girl dreams of after watching The Devil Wears Prada: a job at Vogue. After studying economics and being used to boring numbers, she became an international sales manager at the Dutch Vogue. But the fashion world turned out to be totally different from what she had expected.

Nena didn’t feel good about selling, when a magazine should be there to inspire. That was when tech giant Samsung asked her to work for them in their air conditioning business. ‘At first I was shocked, but then I thought, selling air?! That’s something I’m good at!’

So there she was, walking into a male dominated world with her Chanel bag. ‘The way of dressing is really different at Samsung, and in the beginning I tried to adapt, but now I’m true to myself and dress the way I would also dress at Vogue’.

3 years ago Nena set foot into Gucci as an employee for Vogue, now they are her clients at Samsung. Yes, also luxury fashion brands need air conditioning. You could say that Nena found her very own niche in the tech industry by staying herself.

‘The fashion and healthcare industry should have a conversation.’ – Sofie van der Meulen

Sofie was born with a rare genetic mutation that affected her growth: the bone growth disorder SEDC. Being 1.40 m, she literally misfits the fashion industry and the standardised system.

‘Finding clothes is a miracle, mostly I get really frustrated’, she says. Nothing fits and everything needs to be adjusted; there is a lack of inclusive fashion that takes the differences of people into consideration and Sofie is confronted with this issue every time she goes shopping.

It’s often forgotten that people with disabilities want to look fashionable as well. Sitting in a wheelchair, like Sofie had to for a long time, becomes part of your everyday life and thus your everyday attire. Instead of looking like a medical device, the wheelchair should express your personality as much as a dress you decide to wear.

‘I really think the fashion and healthcare industry should have a conversation, because they could profit from each other. It’s about connecting functionality with beauty’, said Sofie whilst wearing a short black and white dress with red sneakers – a bold statement, and we love it.

Our industry professionals could not have been more different from each other, yet still they all shared the same message in the end: in order to be successful you have to be yourself and that means to [mis]suit from time to time.

You can find more information about Garment magazine and the Fashion & Editorial Branding minor at www.garmentmagazine.com.