Dutch designer Sjaak Hullekes likes playing with the fragility and the behavior of the modern male. For this season's collection entitled 'Small town boy', he had to put his muse in the cusp of the rite of passage, that twilight zone when the boy and the man are still one. He cut the silhouettes slim, elongating the torso, signaling that the boy will turn into a man during an expected growth spurt. Still with his dog that's perhaps been his companion since he was a boy. He turned more sophisticated. He still wears his tees, but he also acquired a cardigan, a suit and a safari jacket. Is he ready to leave home ? Probably not until he's completed his rite of passage. In some ways, this collection also mirrors Sjaak Hullekes’ growth as a designer. A 2005 graduate of the ArtEZ Institute for Arts & Design, he founded his company Arnheim Fashion almost right after graduation, freelancing early 2006 to the present to get started in the fashion industry. Sjaak Hullekes, just like almost all emerging designers, is still firming up his aesthetics. And since last season, he has shown a marked growth. From what's been an efficient design, it has become a refined sense of style. Easy-to-wear without the trappings of commercialism, Sjaak Hullekes can easily dress the European equivalent of what's called in the USA the Midwest, which is the American heartland.
