Marlies – ‘Missy’ – van Stolk is committed to keeping unique design a must. With her own example she hopes to inspire other designers to stay authentic. The fashion world has become way too fast and saturated with raunchy repeats and cheap thrills that keep feeding landfills. That’s why Missy’s core value and aim is to always keep creating something new yet timeless at the same time. She loves to make people feel sexy and attractive in her designs and believes expressing your true, sensual self through fashion contributes to one’s all-over happiness.
Who is Missy?
Missy has that special vavavoom factor that makes her glide as effortlessly through life as a velvety Winnie the Pooh glides down a stream of hallucinogenic honey. Missy entered her current and heavenly physical body in 1988 in Nelson (BC, Canada) and ever since this graceful gazelle has been trotting the globe. From her hippieish hometown Missy cherry-picked her way first to the club and festival scenes of Amsterdam and Australia, and later to the semi-spiritual and semi-sexy Bali. A proper mix & match manoeuvre of the best bits of her journey resulted into her distinctive and extravagant, yet elegant and sensuous style.
And where did it all start?
From an early age on it was evident that Missy had talent. While other girls were playing with their Barbies Missy was making clothes for hers. It only progressed when she inherited her Oma’s sewing machine at 10 years old and started behind the machine creating from scratch. Later she went onto spinning heads when she designed her high school prom dress out of peacock feathers. Ever since Missy has been flocking around music festivals and holistic/spiritual events with like-minded birds-of-paradise. Her all-time biggest source of inspiration originates at these gatherings and in its colourful and flashy people. Missy’s psychedelic and spiritual experiences that have taken place in this environment play an important role in the pattern designs of her fabrics.
What about the formal part?
Marlies van Stolk completed her propadeutic year at AMFI (Amsterdam Fashion Institute). Later she graduated as a bachelor in Fashion and Textiles at KABK (Koninklijke Academie Beeldende Kunsten), The Hague. Her internship was at Pam Hogg’s headquarters (London), which she finished with a runway show at London Fashion Week (Spring-Summer 2014). At the moment Missy is focused on her ready-to-wear label, 'VANSTOLKED'. Missy handpicks her materials wherever she goes: second-hand markets, street sides, and dead stock throw-aways’. The result is always a mesmerising mixture of colour, eleganza, extravaganza, cheekiness and (drama)queendom. Aimed at the advanced rascals of this otherworldly saga called life.
Missy loves collaborations and projects with a purpose. Don’t hesitate to drop her a line if you hear the calling. And listen. For there’s a voice that doesn’t use words.
