sjaak_hullekes_F1028DALLAS, Mar 31, 2010 / FW/ — As a menswear designer, Sjaak Hullekes plays with the fragility of the male, his behaviors and modern times. To achieve that for his Fall 2010 collection, Sjaak Hullekes 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.

Sjaak Hullekes cut the silhouettes slim, elongating the torso, signaling that the “boy will turn into a man” during an expected growth spurt. He still has his best friend; his dog that is perhaps has been his companion since he was a little boy.

Still, he had turned more sophisticated. He still wears his tees, but he had also acquired a cardigan, a suit and a safari jacket. Is he ready to leave home? We don’t know the answer to that yet, i.e., until he completes 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 and Design, he founded his company “Arnheim Fashion” almost right after graduation, freelancing beginning 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 (the first time FashionWindows covered him), he had shown a marked growth. From what had 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 we call in the U.S. the Midwest, which is the American heartland.

[MARI DAVIS]
Photos by Joost Vandebrug, courtesy of Sjaak Hullekes

Paris Menswear Fall 2010