An interview with Dawda Suno
During the fashion exhibition, Our Lord in the Attic Museum will also temporarily house the young fashion brand CRUÈL, founded by William Ampofo. Dawda is one of three students interning with William. Around the age of 17 he became interested in fashion, partly because his mother is in the fashion world. He studies at the Jeans School, where everything revolves around denim. We speak to him almost 2.5 months after his internship has started.
Why did you register for this internship?
“William was still at school with me when I started my education. I heard that already, at such a young age, he has his own fashion brand and that his business is doing well. I think it’s cool to see how far someone has come with the same training as I am now following. I also wanted to see how things work in a relatively small company.”
What is it like to do an internship in a museum?
“It’s cool to work here in the museum. It feels a bit like school. There was also a large studio where all the students came together to work on their designs. You have that here too. Because the museum is still closed, we have not noticed much that it is a museum. That will be different when all visitors will come by and ask questions.”
What does your internship look like so far?
“We started with an introduction to William and his brand CRUÈL. We learned what the brand stands for and William told us about his working method. We also got a number of guided tours of the museum. A different one every time. William gave us the search query ‘historic clothing’. We had to do research based on that. We searched all over Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration. A mood board has been made with all the photos we have collected. This was the basis for the collection.”
What are you doing now?
“William had already designed part of the Spring/Summer ’22 collection for the runway. We are now making the in-house samples for this. We cut out the patterns and next week we will put everything together. With every design, we look at whether we want to change something, whether it is that good or whether we want to delete the design from the collection completely. When that is ready, we will further develop our own designs.”
The museum focuses on inclusiveness: everyone should feel welcome there. Does that also play a role in the designs you are making now?
“Inclusiveness is an important topic at William. His moto is ‘express yourself’. This is also on all his clothes. We want to challenge people to show themselves. My designs are also in that style.”
How would you describe your style?
“I wear a lot of black and go for a loose boxy fit. That means oversized clothes with straight lines. Sometimes I go for something more daring. I notice that when I wear something that is different, it attracts a lot of attention and I get positive reactions. I don’t wear my clothes for others, I just feel good in them. I mainly design what I like and would wear myself.”
Which of your designs should visitors come and admire?
“I have designed a jacket that I really want to make. I don’t know yet if that will work. It’s super nice how it will be put together. It’s really challenging technically and it also has a very special pocket. I think it will be very beautiful and people will appreciate it.”
