Marina YEE




°1958, Belgium.
Fashion designer, Artist.
Lecturer at KASK, School of Arts Ghent, fashion department.

 

Marina Yee graduated from the Antwerp Fashion Academy in 1981, and is primarily known as a member of the famous 'Belgian Six', being: Dries Van Noten, Walter van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee herself. This fashion collective managed to bring the Belgian fashion of the mid eighties to the forefront of the industry, undeniably conquering a spot on the world map in terms of fashion, proving successful to this day.

 

Marina Yee is considered the 'odd one out', and the most rebellious and artistic of the group. Her drive and need for artistic freedom and independence, however, conflicted with the demands of the conventional fashion industry, and she left the group in '88. After the Six, she lived in Paris from '89 to '92, with her then-partner and colleague designer, Martin Margiela. In 1993 she settled in Brussels with a new relation; the birth of her son, Tzara-David, starting a new chapter in her life.

 

Marina Yee chose to go for her own authentic and unconventional way; one of boundless creativity, unhindered by artificial limits or imposed code, thinking out of the box, and  next to fashion, also discovering a larger artistic spectrum; exploring interior decorating and design. She worked on several international projects, including costume design for theatre and children's musicals. She took part in various fashion initiatives and expositions, not only as an artist, but also as a curator. Marina Yee designs fashion with, amongst others, recycled materials in unique and timeless pieces (the 'piece unique' principle), consciously and deliberately outside the conventional season-bound patterns. She passes on these design-experiences in her Workshops, as happened in the co-operational project with Oxfam.

 

Since 2000, armed with her deliberate multi-faceted 'chameleon' vision on fashion and art and where these two meet, Marina Yee styles herself as a inter- and multidisciplinary artist. She has been connected with a art gallery in Antwerp where she exhibits her collages and paintings.

In 2005, she starts giving lectures in art academies, first in Tournai, later in KABK The Hague and the School of Arts / KASK Ghent. From her personal experiences she developed an interest in researching  the intuitive aspect of the 'creation-process' that occurs in young students, and applying it as new educational technique. A holistic ethic of giving both meaningfulness and sustainability are important motivations in her life, both in her artistic work and in her educational assignments, where the ultimate goal is to give young people, as prospective adults, a positive and inspired perspective.



 


Last Update: November 14, 2013