JEAN-PAUL LESPAGNARD / MAATJES

Ready to wear collection / Design & production

“Maatjes transforms the ordinary into rare poetry, turning everyday strength and cultural collisions into flamboyant modern icons.”

I was inspired by a very simple, almost ordinary image once told to me: Dutch fishermen’s wives waiting for their husbands to return from the sea on bicycles. For them, that day carried the spirit of a celebration. That quiet strength struck me. I saw raw beauty in it, a mix of festivity, patience, and silent power.

In Maatjes, I wanted to transpose that scene into a contemporary world, into the universe of motocross fans, with their helmets becoming new kinds of armor and decoration. The everyday turns extraordinary. Helmets are adorned with rhinestones, bolts, wildflowers, like transformed trophies, both protective and flamboyant. They transforms into modern vanities, shifting between icons and gravity.

I play with hybrid patterns, with symbols drawn from different cultures, from sport to traditional 19th-century prints, with popular objects colliding to form a new language. These juxtapositions expose conflict while celebrating encounters, crossings, and dialogues.

Maatjes is a collection where I honor the ordinary, the banal, yet treat it as something rare. I search for brilliance in what is simple, and for wonder in what seems common.