Silhouettes by Yasmina Ajbilou

Especially for her first solo exhibition, Yasmina Ajbilou creates new designs in the form of contemporary colorfully decorated caftans. Ajbilou thus reflects on the traditions and techniques she knows from her Moroccan background: ‘In this exhibition I weave personal stories into my designs. This is how I tell about my background and about who I am now. Everything is brought together in a triptych of silhouettes among which you can wander.’ In the Utrecht Lokaal, three installations of kaftans are combined with ceramic shoes and jewelery and a series of photographs. Ajbilou kaftans are richly decorated: the colorful elements are works of art in themselves and reflect personal stories. It provides an intimate exhibition.

Yasmina Ajbilou (1992) graduated from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) in 2016, where she is still associated as a teacher. In 2018 she founded House of Useless, a label in which she translates her vision of sustainability, beauty and strength into fashion.

Read more about the symbolism, the craft and the history of the kaftans in the interview with Yasmina Ajbilou  on this website.

Yasmina Ajbilou is an emerging fashion designer from Utrecht. She is part of a generation of young designers who want to make the fashion industry more sustainable by minimizing the pollution it causes. Ajbilou therefore constructs new and innovative designs with residual materials, often in collaboration with partners. The USELESS brand she founded is recognizable by the mix of different materials, use of layers, colorful designs and frequent use of prints. USELESS is also characterized by the fact that Ajbilou does not categorize its designs by gender. Instead, the USELESS by Ajbilou collections are for anyone who feels good about them. She calls it: Humanwear.