LAURINDO LOVE with fashion event in the Shoe Quarter

Laurindo Andrea is a fashion designer, historian and owner of the socially social and avant-garde label LAURINDO LOVE. His specialization is colonialism in the global context.

This fashion manifestation is Laurindo Andrea's personal interpretation of the influence of the slavery past on descendants of enslaved people and also contract workers and their clothing. Laurindo: "I see the outfits I present in the Shoe Quarter as resilient manifestations. This is how I try to achieve respect and empathy for other cultures and their dress code. With a clear link to the slavery past."

You may recognize some of the garments Laurindo uses. These include the "kebaja," a blouse-dress worn by women from Indonesia.

The 'koto,' the skirt of traditional Creole-Surinamese women's costume. And the "lensu," a a headscarf worn by Afro-Curaçaoan women....

Laurindo writes: The LAURINDO LOVE Fashion Manifestation 'Behind the comma embroiders a colonial tori', showcases through fashion, culture and literature the continuation and elaboration of a long-lasting colonial system dating back to the early 1600s. First the U.O.C. appropriated territories and enslaved African people in the East and then traded them together with exotic products. Soon pursued by the W.I.C. who went on to apply the same sophisticated merchant blueprint in the West. Mercilessly and shamelessly, centuries-old Asian-, African- and American cultures were oppressed, exploited and humiliated, while European doctrines were laid upon them.

What followed was resistance in all questionable ways. 'Resistance' which later became 'Resilience' by the conscious descendants of the countless contract workers and enslaved African people, who for centuries, had performed unpaid labor on the colonies so that the Netherlands could become rich. Descendants with Dutch nationality, who began to honor their ancestors through new narratives and keeping alive their beliefs, language, rituals, dances and costumes.

Anno 2024. While Empire Netherlands, meanwhile heavily addicted to the international colonial wares like sugar, coffee, tobacco, pepper, cinnamon and cocoa, has begun to cultivate nationalistic symptoms, the debased garments like the 'kebaja', the 'koto' and the 'lensu' steadfastly continue to claim their position amidst the fleeting European fashion fads. These resilient manifestations, enforcing respect and empathy for other cultures and their dress behaviors, run commensurate with the apologies offered and the gap behind the comma in which "healthy dialogues," "repair" and "healing together" have already taken their place.

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