Fashion designer Hans Kemmink (Puck & Hans) brought avant-garde to the Netherlands

The fashion brand that the two founded became popular in the late 1960s, especially among city dwellers. Kemmink and Kroon opened stores in The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. There they not only sold their own collection, but were also the first in the Netherlands to sell items of clothing by major foreign designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Kenzo Takada.

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Amsterdam Museum

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The duo created avant-garde designs that stood out because of the mix of prints and the use of innovative materials. Striking fashion that came with a hefty price tag, but which remained functional – the designers wanted their clothes to be worn on the street.

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The fashion label received a boost from the many artists who wore the designs on stage. In 1975 Getty Kaspers and her band Teach-In won the Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands in a creation by Puck & Hans: a floral blouse with a white culotte skirt.

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The Puck & Hans outfit of singer Kaspers was seen by an international audience:

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Princess Irene, actress Adèle Bloemendaal and presenter Sonja Barend also joined Puck & Hans. A little later, the brand was loved by saxophonist Candy Dulfer and singers Suzanne and Monique Klemann from Loïs Lane.

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The popularity of the fashion label gradually extended beyond national borders. The designs were sold at luxury department store Bloomingdale’s in New York, among others, and artist Marina Abramović was a fan. In 1987 the duo won the international fashion prize Fil d’Or.

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However, worldwide fame was not aspired to by the fashion couple. They preferred to stay in the Netherlands where they could give their daughter – photographer Carmen Kemmink – a carefree childhood.

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ANP

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When Kemmink and Kroon announced in 1997 that they would stop designing, they were appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. In 2017, a retrospective of their work followed in the Amsterdam Museum. The documentary was made about the run-up to that exhibition Puck & Hans – Made in Holland created.

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Kemmink was self-taught. After his career in fashion, he continued to work as a photographer for many years, also a trade he taught himself. “We may no longer have the stores or make our own clothes, but you are never too old to learn,” Kemmink told Esquire magazine in 2020.

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