Fashion

Antwerp Six: A Window to Possibility

by Bent Van Rooy

Growing up in Antwerp tends to skew your perspective on fashion.

This has little to do with the throngs of puffer-jacketed shoppers shuffling from Groenplaats in central Antwerp to the majestic Central Station at the weekend, carrying plastic bags filled with purchases from Primark and Zara and catching trains back to the suburbs.

You could blame Antwerp for its glorious golden century (the 16th century, if you know it), when it amassed great wealth and traded, among other things, the world’s best fabrics and textiles.

But the Royal Academy of Fine Arts is the reason we Antwerpites grew up with the idea that high fashion was as common as bus stops and pigeon droppings. It is a jumble of crumbling historic buildings in the heart of the city. There, many aspiring artists walked beneath the arch that marked the border between the lush sculpture garden inside the Academy and the world at large.

In 1886, a young hopeful who had been shunned by traditionalist academic forces was seen on his way out. His name was Vincent van Gogh.

A century later, six graduates of the recently established Fashion Department passed through the same arch, albeit with less defeat. After four years of training, this small group of young men and women are ready to spread their wings and conquer the world.

In 1986, a group of talented people decided to exhibit their work at the British Designers Show in London. The names Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Van Saene, Marina Yee, Dries Van Noten, Walter Van Beirendonck and Dirk Bikkembergs (above left to right) have proven so unexpected that their work is referred to by the nickname ‘The Antwerp Six’. They, or more precisely their groundbreaking ideas and designs, created a sensation.

Since then, fashion students from all over the world have flocked to The Six’s alma mater, eager to savor The Six’s magical fashion juices. Like a goldfish floating in the cod sea, you can be spotted on your way to school. When I was growing up on the streets of Antwerp in the mid-90s, I would often stop and look at them.

Dressed in avant-garde designer clothes or crazy combinations of vintage and bizarre, often asymmetrical creations, these fashion students captured my heart in a way that dared to stand out from the crowd. Like the Antwerp Six and some of the amazing designers who came after them, they opened a window into possibilities for me.

But when we think about what we see on runways like the Dries Van Noten men’s show, we tend to forget that much of what’s on display – the glamor, the drama, the explosion of color – is firmly rooted in the codes and methods of traditional tailoring.

Van Noten (interviewed above in 2017) grew up in a menswear family. His grandfather started out as a businessman. turner (a person who takes apart used clothing, then restores it and resells it), before producing his own fabrics and opening a men’s clothing store in Antwerp. The business was eventually taken over and expanded by Dries’ father, Hubert. Van Noten Couture, called the Kammenstraat store, sold some pretty classic fare like Zegna or Ferragamo.

As a young boy, Dries (Dries, Raf, Ralph – we all seem to go on first names with these people) often traveled with his parents to Italy, where he absorbed the intricacies of the trade in showrooms in Milan and Florence.

Dissatisfied with the prospect of a traditional career and the linear continuation of tradition, Dries found success at the academy. Inspired by the arts, crafts, and ingenious daring of his fellow students, he emerged as someone who saw these traditions and skills as a means to an end rather than an end goal.

For what purpose? It’s about exploring the things that moved and inspired him. Yes. Van Noten and the rest of the Six have learned the ropes within the walls of the Academy, but they have also discovered that these qualities are there to be used, sometimes abused, stretched out and slapped again.

Their imagination took us on a journey through art history. Take a look at Dries Van Noten’s S/S 2001 collection. It’s colorful and very stripy, reminiscent of David Hockney (above). For literature, see Ann Demeulemeester’s S/S 07 show, a dark homage to Rimbaud’s poetry. Or even more abstract concepts, such as Walter Van Beirendonck’s darkly optimistic jousting with cartoon imagery, tribal elements and BDSM codes.

Does this seem crazy? maybe. Mr. Van Noten will be the first to dismiss my noble theory. Of the six, he is perhaps the one most firmly rooted in the commercial reality that gave birth to him. As he said in an interview with The Talks: “We don’t make couture, we make prêt-à-porter. And I’m very strict about that.”

A passion for durable, easy-to-wear products and timeless designs shine through in everything Dries does.

I remember seeing him standing in front of MoMu in Antwerp, waiting for 2015. inspiration I was impressed by the elegant simplicity of his personal style. I wore wide but slightly tapered chinos over a navy merino sweater and white tennis shoes. Over the years, he has refined his look, which is rooted in British country chic and ivy (like the oversized checked blazer he wore in a 1986 Antwerp Six promotional photo), to reflect sophistication and timeless elegance.

This reverence for tradition was also featured heavily at Van Noten’s F/W 17 menswear show, where the logos and labels of Fox Brothers, Lovat and Marling & Evans were enlarged and emblazoned on the linings of sweaters and jackets, paying homage to the companies that have supplied him with materials for decades.

Whatever the subject of the dream, the vocabulary of classic tailoring serves as a beacon in all the collections of the Antwerp Six, rising to the surface from time to time to guide us through the rough waters of the designer’s wildest imagination.

Choose the suit above from one of Van Noten’s final collections (S/S 24) before his retirement in June 2024. Long considered a master of color, his combination of biscuit brown and deep wine red is chic and approachable. And the fabric will appeal to most PS readers. Simon’s popular jackets.

Even someone as forward-thinking as Walter Van Beirendonck understands the construction of a classic suit. I was once gifted one of his blazers to wear while performing on stage. Tartan fabric with structured shoulders – if it weren’t for the portholes on the front, back and sleeves you’d be certain it was cut by a Savile Row tailor.

weird? confident. I decided to see them as peepholes into the playful soul of their creators. Or really: a window into possibility.