The Anterwp Six

Jul 29, 2010
Roxanne Groebel

The Antwerp Six’s Beginnings

The Antwerp Six refers to a group of six fashion designers who all completed their study at the now famous Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the fashion college of this institution is now simply referred to as The Antwerp Academy and has become synonymous with highly-technically trained and visionary student designers. It is due to the iconic Antwerp Six and the Academy’s reputation for constantly turning out fresh, inventive designers like they were some kind of delicious snack made on a conveyor belt that the annual Graduate Show has become one of the events to attend in international fashion circles. The Antwerp Six includes Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee.

During the 80s the band of unique designers worked at making Antwerp a distinct ‘fashion city’. This hard work came to a crux when in 1987 The Antwerp Six hired a truck and headed to London Fashion Week with their collections to stage the now famous ‘Antwerp Six’ presentation. Unique in their visions The Antwerp Six are all banded together by their shared history and training and their unconventional designs.

Walter Van Beirendonck

The bearded one of The Six, Van Beirendonck who resembles a bikie-book-nerd with a hard to pronounce name, a fashion label and millions of creative projects abounds has become synonymous with what it means to be an Academy graduate and a Belgium fashion genius. Unusual colour combinations, graphic prints and slogans, Beirendonck’s vision is a mish-mash of the cheeky, the loud, the high-brow and of course the unconventional.

Ann Demeulemeester

Dark, emotional, gender-defying. Demeulemeester was dubbed a member of ‘the deconstructionists’, fashion’s new guard in the late 80s and 90s. Her contemporary work still retains the silent fierceness and deliberate roughness of her early designs. Influenced by the original gypsy, punk poetess Patti Smith, Demeulemeester’s vision has always been equal parts rock ‘n’ roll and ‘pagan, warrior princess’. Her garments reflect both vast emotional landscapes and natural landscapes, with importance placed upon using natural materials like leather, wool and fur to increase the tactile experience the wearer has.

Dries van Noten

Before every blonde Hollywood starlet teamed a maxi dress with some bangles and deemed it ‘boho’ Dries van Noten was designing saris and scarves, decorated using folkloric techniques native to India, Morocco and Eastern Europe. Rather than designing a collection around a motif or a single silhouette Noten prefers creating ‘piece by piece’, allowing for a more individualistic result. It is due to this preference that Noten has become renowned for creating collections that are varied in regards to cut and decoration.

Dirk Van Saene

A lover of the fine arts and fine couture, Van Saene began his fashion design career by opening a small store after graduation. It was here at Beauties and Heroes that he sold hand-made clothing. Always one to ignore expectations and trends Van Saene has created a fashion career full of surprises. A bricolage of tailoring, deconstruction and eccentric material choices, such as kitchen towels and latex Van Saene’s work is always inventive and original. Many of his collections question the conventions of traditional clothing and their forms and construction. This concept lends his collections an intellectualism that seems the only consistency in his vision.

Dirk Bikkembergs

Bikkenmbergs has made a name for himself with a unique sexy but sporty look, not only found in his menswear but also his women’s fashion line. Sporty but not sportswear, Bikkembergs creates clothing for the rough and tumble of reality. Inspired by real people and the sometimes banal faucets of their lives, his garments are all at once sturdy, masculine, sexy and athletic. Bikkembergs’s signature heavy, double stitching is found on most of the garments he produces and serves to remind the wearer of the stability and functionality that his vision promises.

Marina Yee

Ever the illusive artist, Yee turned away from the fashion world when the rest of the Antwerp Six were enjoying international exposure. She only released one collection named ‘Marie’ in the 80s. But was seduced back to the fashion world by The Academy when she became a coordinator for a project entitled ‘Fashion for Van Dyk’. After this venture Yee began designing once more and has worked on building her own label and collaborated with Dirk BikkembergsYee’s work explores ways in which garments can be re-fashion as a response to the consumerism of today.

A Legacy of Originality

The Antwerp Academy sends a barrage of quality designers out to battle in the competitive world of high fashion every year, these fashion soldiers owe everything to the Belgium originals, the Six who dared to take their intellectual designs and push them down London Fashion Week’s throat. Along with the caviar of course.