International Library of Fashion Research is excited to announce the opening of our new exhibition “Rietveld Academie, Mevis & van Deursen, Linda van Deursen”. Unknown to many, but royalty to some. A near-nonexistent online presence has made her a well-kept secret. The influence of studio Mevis & van Deursen and Linda van Deursen in fashion and the cultural field of graphic design over the past decades runs deep.

“… the studio that influenced us most is without doubt Mevis & van Deursen […] They put a lot of energy in education, in stimulating young designers, supporting students: they really pushed Dutch graphic design to the next level.” – Experimental Jetset, Studio Culture, 2008

The exhibition extends on International Library of Fashion Research’s permanent collection and showcases a selection of works that are in various ways related to the broad and interconnected subject of fashion. Fashion is an attractive discipline in how it bears similarities to graphic design: how it reflects and defines a particular era, in how it is both immediate and fleeting. It is also a highly productive industry that is in need of articulations such as brand identities, presentations, promotion, campaigns, publications and so on.

“Rietveld Academie, Mevis & van Deursen, Linda van Deursen” spans fashion related projects over a period of 35 years, divided in three parts. Starting with her teaching at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam that has been influential on an entire generation of graphic designers, moving into studio Mevis & van Deursen’s work during the early years of the successful fashion designers Viktor & Rolf, as well as zooming into van Deursen’s self-initiated and applied work in independent books and magazines over the years.

Linda van Deursen perceives her work within and around fashion as incidental, but is fashion even a subject one can avoid altogether nowadays? The exhibition further explores topics of image circulation. In her recent publication “Image Continuum” (Slideshow, 2026), she reflects on her interest in fashion images: “Given the limitations within which these images are produced, the genre still feels like an open field of expression and communication to me. Even if we find them superficial and empty, there is something at stake. The creation of such an outstanding image, whether overproduced or intuitively made, is never just about the selling of a product.”

Linda van Deursen (b. 1961, Netherlands) studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, graduating in 1986. She began to teach there in 1991 and was head of the graphic design department from 2001 till 2014. Together with Armand Mevis she founded the studio Mevis & van Deursen in 1987. For nearly 35 years, Mevis & van Deursen operated as one of the most distinctive and quietly influential design studios in the Netherlands – and, by extension, in contemporary graphic design at large. Her influence on Dutch and international graphic design runs directly through her role as an educator. Through students like Anders Hofgaard, Linn Eriksen, Ian Brown and Dag-Henning Brandsæter, she's also had an influence on the Norwegian design scene. Linda has (co)initiated publications around the work of photographers Dana Lixenberg, Nigels Shafran and cinematographer Robby Müller. She has also contributed to projects of fellow designers with images and with writing on images.

The exhibition opening will be marked with an event and exclusive talk with Linda van Deursen on September 23rd 2026 at 18.00–20.00. The exhibition runs through Friday 18th of December 2026. A free talk will also be held at the National Academy of the Arts (KHiO) in Oslo on September 17th (time), focusing on the more academic side of van Deursen’s graphic design practice.

“Rietveld Academie, Mevis & van Deursen, Linda van Deursen” is initiated by Carl Gürgens & Levi Bergqvist, with generous support from Grafill.

Image credits:

Céline Wouters, detail spread from Future, Present, Past, newspaper, 2006

Mevis & van Deursen, page from Recollected Work, 2005

Linda van Deursen, spread from Emigré 25, 1993