I read a story today about Belgian designers
and why they are of the moment. Their austere nature, simple lines, and hard
core discipline happens to coincide with the strained economic times. There was
more. But, what really captivated me was the fact that all these incredible designers,
like Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten (all personal
favorites) graduated from the same school- The Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine
Arts. Today, in Paris Maison Martin Margiela had an amazing show, despite
rumours that he's leaving the label. So now I need to know about Antwerp.
I decided I
wanted to know about the place that produces such great artists. Googled the Antwerp Royal Academy of
Fine a Arts and this is what came up:
The Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts
(Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten van Antwerpen) is one of the oldest
of its kind in Europe. It was founded in 1663 by David Teniers the Younger,
painter to the Archduke Leopold and Don Juan of Austria. By the sixties, in our
present century, general opinion had stopped considering the "applied arts" to
be of lesser value than the "traditional arts". In accordance with the spirit
of the times, a number of new departments were added to the Royal Academy of
Fine Arts: graphic design, photography, jewelry design, ceramic arts and
Fashion design. Mary Prijot championed the establishment of a fully-fledged
fashion department within the Academy. She gave the fashion department an
international appeal and set very high creative standards, both for fashion
drawing and later, for fashion design. Together with Marthe Van Leemput, who
added the subjects of tailoring and pattern design to the curriculum, she drew
a blueprint for the fashion department, a plan which still serves its purpose
extremely well. Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs, Walter Van Beirendonck,
Dirk Van Saene, Dries Van Noten and Martin Margiela are designers who graduated
from the Academy in the beginning of the eighties, when the fashion department
was under the patronage of Mary Prijot.
In the beginning of the eighties, the
fashion world and the international media started to get interested in Antwerp
fashion designers. From then on, the fashion department of the Royal Academy
shared in this international interest, not in the least because of the
continuous quality of the collections designed by some of the now
aforementioned famous ex-students and a new generation of designers as
Veronique Branquinho, A.F. Vandevorst, Stephan Schneider, Bernhard Willhelm,
Bruno Pieters, Tim Van Steenbergen, Peter Pilotto, Les Hommes/ Bart Van Den
Bossche and Tom Notte, Haider Ackermann, Kris Van Assche amongst many others.
Belgian designers have been generating
heat in the fashion world since the mid 1990's, when they were often viewed as
the greatest thing since the Japanese designers who emerged, clutching
deconstructionist scissors, in the early 80's. This lively, elucidating
exhibition lets nonfashionistas see a bit of the fire. With 75 ensembles, most
from the last five years, it shows the work of 10 designers, all but one of
whom (Olivier Theyskens) attended the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.
Several of the names will be familiar, especially Martin Margiela, Ann
Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten, members of the so-called Antwerp Six, who
attended the academy in the late 1970's and early 80's.
Starting with Mr. Margiela, the idea of
deconstruction is batted around this show like a volleyball at a leisurely team
practice, with each player giving it a different, confidant spin. Garments are
taken apart, reassembled, reused and misused, as exemplified by a trench coat
reconfigured as an evening gown by Dirk Van Saene, another member of the
Antwerp Six, or a humble cotton skirt that Mr. Van Noten has loaded with a ball
gown's worth of beads.
Sources include military uniforms,
hospital gowns, pop culture, extreme-exercise garments and vintage clothing. At
one deconstructionist extreme is Walter Van Beirendonck's ''Dissection''
jacket, which has one sleeve cut away to reveal a cross section of different
fabrics, although the clothes of the two-designer team known as A. F.
Vandevorst, who have a thing for saddles, can't be discounted. To the other
extreme is the understated work of the newly discovered Jurgi Persoons, who
decorates his lightweight dresses while he shapes them with visible
hand-stitched darts and tucks.
For
the most part these clothes don't infantalize or overexpose the body, and many
appear to be genuinely comfortable. It is probably too much to ask that they
also might be affordable
Cool. I think I need to visit Antwerp.
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