From 13 to 15 November 2026, the 18th edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival will bring more than 100 emerging designers, artists and performers from over 25 countries to Maastricht. Across three days, fashion will move beyond the runway—into exhibitions, films, performances, workshops, talks and shared creative experiences.
Maastricht is set to become a meeting place for new ideas in fashion. Returning for its 18th edition, FASHIONCLASH Festival will fill venues across the city with work by a new generation of international makers. The programme brings fashion into dialogue with performance, visual art, film and social design, inviting visitors not only to look, but to take part.
The festival’s spirit is reflected in its 2026 campaign, created by Sudanese visual artist and photographer Hashim Nasr, based in Alexandria, Egypt. Through carefully staged, surreal imagery, Nasr brings African and Middle Eastern cultural references into dreamlike scenes. Traditional symbols, clothing, rituals and objects are transformed into stories where memory, mythology and contemporary identity meet. The campaign considers heritage not as something fixed, but as something that can be carried forward, reimagined and shared. Nasr’s own practice explores displacement, memory, exile and gender identity. Originally trained as a dentist, he works with staged photography and handmade objects; his recent projects also address experiences of war and migration. For FASHIONCLASH, his campaign opens a visual conversation about belonging, transformation and the ways art can be seen from different cultural perspectives.
Opening the festival: fashion across the Sphinxkwartier
The festival opens on Friday 13 November in Maastricht’s Sphinxkwartier. The day begins with the opening of New Fashion Narratives at Bureau Europa, followed by the Fashion Film Program at Lumière Cinema, including premieres and an awards ceremony. A special free fashion show in the long Sphinx Passage will bring together emerging designers and the work of Teigetje & Woelrat. The opening day concludes with a party at The Social Hub.
From there, the programme spreads throughout Maastricht. Among its key destinations are The CLASH House and CLASHLAB at ENCI, Fashion Makes Sense at Centre Céramique, Amarte × FASHIONCLASH at the Jan van Eyck Academie, and Class of 2026 at The Social Hub. Exhibitions, talks and presentations across the city offer different ways to encounter contemporary fashion culture.
One of the festival’s central exhibitions, New Fashion Narratives – Fleshy, slimy, wobbly, will be presented at Bureau Europa from 13 to 15 November. Curators Jamal Nxedlana, Karmen Samson, Welmoed Bosch and Agatha Prieto Jeanty developed the concept during a residency week in April 2026. Their exhibition looks to fashion that leaks, mutates and resists easy categorisation—work that moves between forms rather than settling into familiar labels.
The curatorial vision creates space for a tactile, unruly and sometimes grotesque side of fashion: a celebration of what cannot be neatly framed. Its projects take up that challenge in very different ways. Ida Stachura’s SCANDAL DO IT YOURSELF draws on Hollywood star Pola Negri, using DIY and papercraft aesthetics to explore scandal as a form of self-invention. Ping Chen’s Thing in Itself combines tailoring with reversible and modular structures, revisiting masculinity through everyday gestures of care and domestic labour. In Justin Jacob’s FLESH AS CURRENCY, anonymous Grindr profiles become posthuman garments, prompting questions about bodies as data, images and currency.
Other works stretch the exhibition into new territories. Robbeduz & Valentina Gal’s Children of Zeus X Troubled Waters creates a living exhibition of water and sculpture that leads visitors into a mythical swamp. Aurore Montagner’s Les Belles Entravées was created with imprisoned women at Rennes Prison, who collectively imagined a wardrobe shaped by freedom and escape. Jessica Laures’s COIL turns gender-performance stereotypes into methods of restriction, while Hillz studio’s The First Potato uses discarded workwear to explore family hierarchy around the dinner table. Johannes Hartmann’s semi couture finds unexpected mannequins in Vienna’s street bins.
The exhibition also includes work by Alper & Tim, AKPIL, Cement Blanche, Giles Shepherd, Gloria Tomassucci, Gouled Ahmed, Isa Herrera and Maizie, C.PROTOCOL, Josiane Martinho, Julia Mazur, Martijntje Cornelia, Marga Weimans, Mia Bøgedal, Özgür Deniz Koldaş, Studio Paul & Haiko, Rosan Olij, NNAEJ, Xanthe Pölk, and Liew & Wang. Performative activations will accompany the opening. On Saturday, designer Marga Weimans will take part in a special Q&A, followed by a Sunday lecture from Studio Paul & Haiko.
THE CLASH HOUSE
On Saturday 14 November, fashion performance takes centre stage at The CLASH House, in the striking Peutzhal at ENCI. Ten designers—Nouka Rous, Paco Teepe, Isa Hazelager, Anna Strengers, Emma Magermans, Larissa de Jager, Dies van Herk, Amy Prae, Aron Saxe Lydon and Soojeong Lee—have taken part in a development trajectory of coaching and making sessions. Instead of presenting their collections through conventional runway formats, they have explored how performance can tell each collection’s story.
Two awards will recognise and support participating talent. The Meester Koetsier Foundation will award an incentive prize of €2,500, selected by an international jury. The FASHIONCLASH Festival 2026 TIM Award, supported by Textile Innovation Maastricht, offers a development prize worth up to €1,500 excluding VAT. The prize includes access to machinery and knitting facilities at Qeske Maastricht, expert guidance and materials to help develop the winning design.
Before The CLASH House, CLASHLAB brings fashion, dance and music together as equal creative partners. During a two-week residency, fashion designer Teun Seuren, choreographer Daniëlle Huyghe and musician Nader Adabnejad will work together to develop a short performance. Its form is not decided in advance: it will emerge through experimentation and exchange between the artists.
CLASHLAB is a collaboration between FASHIONCLASH, Musica Sacra, Nederlandse Dansdagen, SALLY, Intro in Situ, schrit_tmacher Festival, Muneheater and Via Zuid. The project is made possible in part by Stichting Kanunnik Salden and De Hustinx Stichting.
On Saturday night, the festival continues at ENCI with an afterparty themed “Childhood Fantasies, Surreal Realities.” Conceived as more than a party, it is an interdisciplinary space for community, encounter and expression. DJs, spoken-word performances by Puss’ Poetry, a performance by multidisciplinary artist Feliz, and a fashion show by Heerlen-based independent cult clothing and streetwear brand TEARS.RIP will feature alongside **La Monroy’s Colossal Horizons. A Festive Requiem for Pedro Antonio Cano.
The invitation is to dress as the person, creature, fantasy or memory you always dreamed of becoming—and to bring a favourite plush toy.
FASHION ON SCREEN
At Lumière Cinema, the Fashion Film Program will present 44 short films from different countries. Documentary, digital and experimental approaches will take viewers on a multimedia journey from Mongolia to South Africa, Italy and surreal digital spaces. The programme gives designers and filmmakers room to experiment with the short fashion film as a form of storytelling.
On Thursday 12 November, ahead of the festival, FASHIONCLASH and Lumière Cinema will screen The Designer Is Dead, a film about visionary designer Miguel Adrover and his radical commitment to multiculturalism, sustainability and political expression in the New York fashion scene.
On Friday evening, six finalists will be announced, and a jury of Marcel Schlutt, Alex van der Steen, Esther Muñoz Grootveld, Katie Metcalfe and Gloria Maria Cappelletti will present the FASHIONCLASH Festival 2026 Fashion Film Award and the Kaltblut Magazine Award. Two films produced through FASHIONCLASH’s own Fashion Film development trajectory—TRAMANTOJO and INVINCIBLE—will also premiere during the festival.
The participating filmmakers include Christos Panagiotou, Sofia Ivanova Kozhevnikova, Izzy Mana, Emma Evelein, Storm Nijhuis & Denise Bakker, Ida Boxem & Claudia Sanchez, Alyne Li & Qiyun Zheng, Jodi Cranen & Yorvique Macaay, Javi Bisbal, Naranjargal Enkhbat, Inez Carmen van Kessel, Polina Kulbachevskaia, Alessandro Amaducci, Aron Saxe, Michal Kucharski, Will Venter, Guus Bos, Adam & Nick Hayes, Zhenia Kazankina, Yiwei Huang, Emma Hakansson, Vittoria Mengoni, Lei Jiang, Hildegard Oehler & Stee van Stark, Cenyi Wang, Christophe Chudy, Anastasia Popescu & Noa Schraven, Hannah Varnell, Jordan Harvey, Sylwia Nazzal & Jad Maq, Kees de Klein, Marco Blazevic & Meike van Lelyveld, Victor Claramunt, Adam Muscat, Isa Carmejoole, Karisma Oluchukwu Ekeh, Sara Del Barba, Shako, Maria Nazarova, Julian Achilles Pawlak & Daniel Le Hai, Luigi Dalena, Yayra David Agbofah, Gina Siliquini, Luciënne Venner, Juul Sadée and Kalon Films (Will Venter).
Collaboration, participation + shared making
At the Jan van Eyck Academie, Amarte × FASHIONCLASH will present new collaborations between fashion and other art forms. Four artists selected through an open call have been paired with fashion designers to experiment across disciplines, creating installations and performances where fashion meets poetry, classical music and performance art. The programme features Arian Soltan × Peishan Xu, Hsin Min Chan × Pauline Blind, Anto López Espinosa × Berend Brus, and ULTRA-ORA × RADVLAD.
The project also welcomes theatre-maker Mira Verhoeve, who returns after taking part in 2024 with a preview of Change the Guards. This personal object-performance explores the experience of a queer girl growing up amid the military and patriarchal traditions of her forefathers.
Participation continues at Centre Céramique, where Fashion Makes Sense runs from 3 to 22 November. FASHIONCLASH’s ongoing programme focuses on social design, inclusion and education, often bringing professionals together with young people, semi-professional makers and amateurs.
The exhibition on Centre Céramique’s third floor presents projects including TexTiles, a community artwork developed as part of Het Maastricht Jaar 2026. Hundreds of people have created individual textile tiles that come together as a collective work, inspired by the Maastricht Treaty and by the stories and connections of Maastricht residents. The programme also includes a presentation by Ecopolitan Magazine, work by Kunstbende Fashion winner Yani Jongen, and costumes for Stadsparade Helden, created by students of Scenography & Costume Design at Toneelacademie Maastricht. Workshops throughout the weekend invite visitors to explore making, materials and sustainability. On Sunday 15 November, a talk moderated by Jonas Zitter of the Kledingcast platform will bring participating designers and artists together to reflect on their experiences.
Class of 2026 + fashion throughout the city
For a second year, FASHIONCLASH × The Social Hub Maastricht will bring emerging fashion talent into the heart of the Sphinxkwartier. The programme includes a showcase in the Social Hub Atrium and an exhibition in the lobby featuring five makers. The festival’s opening-day fashion show in the Sphinx Passage will present work by some of the exhibition’s participants, alongside a special guest runway by Teigetje & Woelrat.
Class of 2026 highlights designers graduating in 2026 from seven different academies. Their work reflects a shared commitment to storytelling through fashion, drawing on personal heritage, cultural memory, experimental techniques and social commentary. Participants are Anne Prins, Arthur Wagenaar, Casper Naafs, Elia Anania, Nia Millano, JJAYCE, Kaat van Spaendonck, Kelly Cecilie Foss, Mare Langen, ROOS adjustable design (RAD), ROZE GOUD, Storm Nijhuis / Hellion Sin, Azzurra Ruimschotel, Berber Struiksma, Josquin Fromangé, Sarah Palomares and Tara de Smit. The programme also includes an upcycling talk organised by Cristina Palacios, centred on a documentary by Kantamanto Social Club.
Beyond the main venues, exhibitions, talks and activities will invite visitors to discover fashion across Maastricht. At S.A.C.59 / Space for Art & Culture, a group exhibition brings together work by Piet Paris, Seeing Black and Dre Drevens. Limestone Books will host a talk with Anouk Beckers, Iris de Leeuw and Harm Stevens, moderated by Tonya Studiono, around SpeesBookLookPak—a wearable publication and legible garment for the playful human of all time—and present work by Maya Gawel.
At Townhouse Design Hotel, sustainable designer Ruben Jurriën will present his work and give a Saturday talk about sizing, fashion and inclusivity. Galerie Post + García will show the FASHIONCLASH collection by Teigetje & Woelrat, where checkered patterns, contrasting knitwear and leather, bright colours and theatrical gestures evoke the playful spirit of carnival. Costumes from Stadsparade Helden will also appear at Boekhandel Dominicanen and De Bijenkorf. At Bonnefantenmuseum, students from Toneelacademie Maastricht will respond to the exhibition Cooking from the Fridge through presentations spanning painting, photography, film, video, installation and sculpture.
FASHIONCLASH Festival is an annual platform and springboard for makers working across fashion, performance, visual art and social design. Its programme is developed through open calls and co-productions with international partners and communities. By combining talent development, boundary-pushing work and active audience participation, the festival asks what fashion can be—not only as an art form, but also as a way of engaging with society.
The 18th edition takes place in Maastricht from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 November 2026. The festival is accessible through a mix of ticketed events and free programme elements. Visitors can find programme, participant and ticket information on the official FASHIONCLASH website. The festival is made possible with support from the Province of Limburg, the Municipality of Maastricht, Dutch Creative Industries Fund, Fonds voor Cultuurparticipatie, Cultuurfonds—including support from the E.G. Bakker-Swart Fund—VSB Fonds, Meester Koetsier Foundation and a wide network of cultural, creative and local partners. (fashionclash.nl)
