In 1986, a group of unknown designers drove from Belgium to Great Britain to show their work during London Fashion Week. They weren\u2019t given a stage, and few locals could pronounce their names. Along with Martin Margiela (the unofficial seventh), Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dirk Van Saene, Dries Van Noten, Marina Yee, and Walter Van Beirendonck were labeled the Antwerp Six. They were the first Flemish designers to break through globally; while their aesthetics are distinct, their ethos brought them together. The group was markedly antiglamour, underwritten by a sharp independence and an openness to breaking norms. <\/p>\n
This sensibility changed the industry at its core. Today, Belgian designers and designers educated in Belgium still dominate the fashion system. Just look at Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Pieter Mulier at Versace, Raf Simons at Prada, Julien Dossena (who graduated from La Cambre Mode[s] in Brussels) at Rabanne, Meryll Rogge at Marni, Glenn Martens at Margiela and Diesel, and Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent; then there\u2019s Demna, who famously studied in Belgium and learned under Margiela. Meanwhile, many of the original Six+1 have left fashion altogether, moving onto sculpture, furniture design, and other art forms.<\/p>\n
This past week and weekend, the city celebrated the first Antwerp Fashion Festival, inviting the world to get to know the new, rich talent coming out of the unlikely fashion capital. Both new and established Belgian designers were in attendance; Walter Van Beirendonck showed his emotional 40th anniversary collection, 40 Years of Dreaming the World Awake, on the 7th floor of a construction site in an abandoned bank. (The structure was the first skyscraper in Europe\u2014showing in its ruin felt particularly on-brand for the radical pop-conceptual designer.) Dries Van Noten creative director Julian Klausner opened up about how he feels taking the helm from Noten, and how excited he was to meet a designer he loves at the event (Rick Owens). This year\u2019s LVMH Prize finalist, Julie Kegels, put on a group art and design show at the gallery Cour, while the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp showcased graduating student collections and invited guests to meet the young designers one-on-one. Designer Tom Van der Borght showed sculptures of real bodies at the Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp and concept shop DONUM, works that broke against the idea that only one form is desirable in the industry. <\/p>\n
Walter Van Beirendonck 40th anniversary collection<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Walter Van Beirendonck<\/p>\n
The Antwerp Fashion Festival events make a strong case for the fact that the city is still a hotbed for avant-garde and independent design. W spoke with 10 of the participating creatives to ask: what makes Antwerp fashion so compelling? And what does the future of fashion look like?<\/p>\n
Julian Klausner Creative director of Dries Van Noten<\/p>\n
What do you think about the current state of the industry and its future?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m grateful to be part of this big wave of new creative directors. In the season before my start and after, 20 or 30 new creative directors [began]. The future seasons are looking really exciting. It\u2019s humbling, as well, because I had my debut show on the same day Haider Ackermann debuted at Tom Ford. I think the morning after was Sarah Burton at Givenchy.<\/p>\n
Does Antwerp have a distinct voice in fashion?<\/p>\n
This is a very fertile place to be creative. We are quite a particular country: We\u2019re very small and we have three official languages and a messy government and [we\u2019re surrounded] by these great, big histories. As a Belgian, you don\u2019t take yourself too seriously. You are pushed to look at things in a slightly different way. <\/p>\n
The state has very little fashion history. So for the first wave of designers, the Antwerp Six, there was everything to be done. There was no weight of heritage or something to be compared to. And that gives a certain creative freedom.<\/p>\n
How do you decide between taking creative risks and the demands of the business of fashion? Where do you draw the line?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m very instinctive in the way I work. This is what I saw from Dries\u2014I was also aware when I took on the role that I had to find my way. It\u2019s still a work in progress to make the work personal to me. Every season, Dries wanted to push things forward. He was keen on looking to the future. The combination pushes me, still, to be daring. Between being a little bit too daring or being a little bit too bland or commercial, I\u2019d rather lean toward creativity. It is the spirit of the house.<\/p>\n
Brandon WenDesigner and creative director of the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp<\/p>\n
Describe your brand in three words.<\/p>\n
Abstract tropical elegance.<\/p>\n
You said the latest collection is about abstraction specifically.<\/p>\n
The collection started from the idea of nothing. How does nothing become something? The other note of inspiration is I am originally from Los Angeles. My mother is Spanish, my father is Chinese. So there\u2019s a surfer boy-slash-old Spanish woman inside of me that comes out in the raffia, in the taffeta, in the embroideries.<\/p>\n
Who do you picture in the clothes?<\/p>\n
I only have a basic answer: Bj\u00f6rk, obviously. But I like this collection on boys. I make this clothing for myself. People are like, who\u2019s your client? It\u2019s kind of a Harold and Maude situation. <\/p>\n
What are your thoughts on the future of fashion?<\/p>\n
We have a lot of students who want to continue creating. But as a fashion designer, it\u2019s hard. You can\u2019t just do that. A painter can make 12 paintings and it\u2019s fine. In fashion, you have to have a collection. For me, the future is in small resources, and finding the people and the communities that will help make that happen. Because right now, I don\u2019t know if a space like that really exists.<\/p>\n
How would you define Antwerp fashion?<\/p>\n
Antwerp is garment-obsessed. London is more [defined by] abstraction, experimentation. Antwerp is still experimental, but it\u2019s really about garment details. It\u2019s how we teach, it\u2019s what the Six were all about. And historically, it\u2019s always been eclectic.<\/p>\n
Walter Van BeirendonckMember of the Antwerp Six showing his 40th anniversary collection<\/p>\n
Tell us about your new collection.<\/p>\n
For me, it was a new step, a little more spiritual. The clothes are probably more relaxed, less complicated. I\u2019ve become a little more relaxed, a little less complicated. Also, the world is changing. I\u2019m changing.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Walter Van Beirendonck<\/p>\n
How would you describe these 40 years?<\/p>\n
As a rollercoaster. I never skipped a season. One way or another, I always put a collection together. I had periods that I really had to survive. Other periods were extremely successful, like the \u201990s, with a lot of selling points all over the world. But then again\u2014down and then up, and up and down.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your best memory of these years?<\/p>\n