{"id":8926,"date":"2026-03-28T17:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/8926\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T17:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:51:10","slug":"the-antwerp-six-opening-felt-like-a-family-reunion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/8926\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Antwerp Six\u2019 Opening Felt Like a Family Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"

IT MUST BE BELGIUM: The VIP opening for \u201cThe Antwerp Six\u201d exhibition at MoMu<\/a> on Friday night felt more like a family reunion, with Dries Van Noten<\/a> hugging Walter Van Beirendonck, Raf Simons embracing his buddy Pieter Mulier, and Ann Demeulemeester leading a small group around the show, which opened to the public Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my Golden Spindle,\u201d she said to Stefano Gallici, the current creative director of her namesake house, as she pointed to the diminutive fashion prize, which she received in 1982 shortly after graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Art with her classmates Van Noten, Van Beirendonck, Dirk Van Saene, Marina Yee and Dirk Bikkembergs, who burst onto the scene 40 years ago.<\/p>\n

More from WWD<\/p>\n

Milliner Stephen Jones, fashion scribe Suzy Menkes, stylist Olivier Rizzo, fashion educator Linda Loppa and production guru Etienne Russo were among those who toured the multi-media display.<\/p>\n

Mulier marveled at video clips of a student-aged Van Noten, who resembled \u201cTogether Forever\u201d singer Rick Astley in those days.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A bit rueful, having just worked his last day at Ala\u00efa <\/a>\u2013 he starts at Versace on July 1 \u2013 Mulier said Bikkembergs was his go-to brand as a youngster, especially the pants and ankle boots, with the laces passing through the heel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to wear that one. I had it in four colors,\u201d he said, as a photo of the boot flashed on a monitor.<\/p>\n

Van Noten was soon headed to Venice to mount his debut exhibition<\/a> at his new cultural foundation <\/a>at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta, which will feature fashions by Christian Lacroix, Comme des Gar\u00e7ons and emerging Palestinian designer Ayham Hassan.<\/p>\n

The VIP guests eventually filtered down to the foyer for the official opening ceremony, and speeches from Belgian politicians.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Antwerp mayor Els van Doesburg, wearing a sleeveless black pantsuit and sequin top by Christian Wijnants, whose boutique is a spindle\u2019s throw from the museum, spoke about her emotional connection to her clothes, and paid tribute to the Six for catapulting the port city into \u201ca stronghold of visionary fashion and creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey reshaped neighborhoods. They put our Academy on the global map. They made Antwerp a reference point in fashion. We owe them all of that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Later, four of the remaining Six (Bikkembergs was a no-show and Yee died last year) repaired to the Botanic Sanctuary Antwerp for a casual dinner in its 17th-century chapel.<\/p>\n

Jones was easy to spot in his traffic-cone-orange vinyl jacket by Van Beirendonck, which he\u2019s had for 28 years, forgetting how stiff the sleeves can become in winter. He was grateful for the crowded, warm venues.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Best of WWD<\/p>\n

Sign up for WWD’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IT MUST BE BELGIUM: The VIP opening for \u201cThe Antwerp Six\u201d exhibition at MoMu on Friday night felt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3040,19,6020,6021,6084,6159,6160,6204,6203,6202,17,6205],"class_list":{"0":"post-8926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-antwerp","8":"tag-ann-demeulemeester","9":"tag-antwerp","10":"tag-dirk-bikkembergs","11":"tag-dries-van-noten","12":"tag-marina-yee","13":"tag-pieter-mulier","14":"tag-raf-simons","15":"tag-stephen-jones","16":"tag-van-beirendonck","17":"tag-van-noten","18":"tag-walter-van-beirendonck","19":"tag-wwd"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116308075071754976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}