Duran Lantink is a Dutch designer based in Amsterdam. Having studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and graduating from the Sandberg Instituut in 2017, Lantink’s disruptive vision for the future of sustainable fashion has already seen him shortlisted for the 2019 LVMH Prize. With his innovative approach to upcycling, Lantink’s zero-waste philosophy uses pre-loved garments and deadstock fabrics to create fashion as agenda-setting as it is ethical. After receiving international attention for the iconic “vagina” trousers he created for Janelle Monáe’s PYNK music video in 2018, Lantink has gone on to design pieces for Billie Eilish and Solange.
His collaborations with fashion retailers and media is as collaborative as it is critical, encouraging retailers and brands, whose deadstock he reworks, to consider the waste they generate in the name of luxury. Often taking a satirical position on the industry he works in, Lantink gets into the belly of the beast to infiltrate these systems and propose viable ways that brands and retailers can tackle overproduction. His collaborations with marginalised communities — from transgender sex workers in Cape Town to homeless people in Amsterdam — put this creativity into powerful narratives of self-expression and the power of fantasy that fashion can hold.