Fashion week wraps up here today in Amsterdam, and the big tents on soggy Museumplein, nestled amongst the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum, and the Stedlijk Museum, are coming down. I mention soggy because of the thunderstorms & flooding in the region recently. A Cartier Marcello handbag launch event last week had to be moved indoors from a lovely garden location due to rain.

Apparently the $1,500 bags don’t mix well with water—making them a bit impractical for Amsterdam of late.

Anyway, that’s what tents are for, and my photographer pal Tony Newitt braved the weather and crowds to cover the event. His stuff is seen in Amsterdam on the program Cult TV (Salto 1 Friday evenings between 19:30-20:00), but he graciously shared some preview photos from several Dutch designers.

How the rest of the world influences the West: a burka shirt? For those days when you want to cover your face.

After you’ve had your morning coffee and are ready to face the world you can pull the shirt down around your neck for a more traditionally western look, seen at Antoine Peters’ show on Thursday evening.

Monique Collignon presented on Saturday this tangerine 2-piece that would not be out of place amongst the Bollywood glitterati in Mumbai.

And from Iris van Herpen, I detect perhaps a Japanese influence in this dress shown Friday night.

Looking at these select photos I’m reminded of a question I posed several weeks ago about what the kids will wear in 20 years. A reader, Randi, responded in part with this:

…Maybe the 00’s could be remembered as a time when western fashion grew up and saw itself in context of a world much larger than its own little history?

With more non-European immigration to cities like Amsterdam, London, and New York, I imagine this is just the beginning of what we might call a “global fashion exchange”.
-Jill Woodward