Mierlo has a new hero who puts the town’s history as a textile manufacturer back in the spotlight. He seems even to have had contact with Christian Dior.
The name of this new hero is Piet Manders, and the Weverijmuseum in Geldrop has made an exhibition about the man and his work. Manders (1928-1986) was an industrial technical draftsman who, with his team, designed fabrics for famous international fashion designers such as Nina Ricci, Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior. The Weverijmuseum stumbled on Piet’s work more or less by accident, through an e-mail from a museum in Zeeland.
Didn’t suit their collection
They offered a fabric collection that did not fit into their collection. “Since I was going to spend my holiday in Zeeland anyway, I drove by”, Bert Vermeer, director of the Weverijmuseum Geldrop, says. “Then it turned out to be a collection from a certain Piet Manders, who also turned out to have roots in Mierlo”.
And that can also be seen in the street scene because Lenssen and Manders’ fashion shops are all family. Piet never had a glamorous life, nor was he famous. But he did leave his mark on the international fashion world.
“And Mierlo should be proud of that”, Bert Vermeer says. That is why the exhibition on Manders is on display until September in Weverijmuseum Geldrop.
Source: www.studio040.nl
Translated by: Bob
