Duran Latink Fashion Exhibit...

Back in November 2014, Ashlynn had her first modeling assignment, a lookbook for Duran Latink, a young Dutch fashion designer. I tagged along for the first part of the shoot and took this photo of him helping her into her trousers.

Here’s the official shot of what was definitely the most unusual outfit of the collection. 

Fast forward nearly five years later, and that outfit isn't looking so unusual anymore. He came to fame in 2018 for designing these vagina pants for the music video of Pynk by American pop star Janelle Monae; they are now part of the permanent collection of the Centraal Museum.

At just 31 years old, he had a solo exhibition at the Centraal Museum and I couldn’t resist going. Lantink specializes in repurposing old clothes. In De-Collected, the first installation, he worked closely with the museum to breathe new life into some of the museum’s rejected designer dresses. 

This section was entitled Straight from the Sales Bin, an indictment of the practice in which unsold luxury clothing is burned or shredded to prevent it from entering the sale circuit.

And lastly, Sistaaz of the Castle, an ongoing fashion and photography project started in 2016 about flamboyant transgender sex workers in Cape Town.

This section definitely had the most impact as well as the most whimsy.