Having, for several seasons, created collections that are both thought provoking and provoking in many other ways, it was an unseen twist when Walter Van Beirendonck and the Swedish furniture retailer IKEA announced the news of a collaboration. The Belgian designer’s latest collection sparked quite a bit of controversy, with butt plugs as accessories as well by using his fashion to respond to the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris. The provocation, however over the top as it may be, has always been constructed in an interesting and intelligent way. So even though the designer has an apparent aesthetic interest in male genitals, the collaboration with IKEA is most definitely an exciting upcoming event.

The Swedish furniture giant is famous for its minimalistic Scandinavian touch – an aesthetic that embodies precisely the opposite of what Walter Van Beirendonck has come to represent. Is this to be interpreted as a statement collaboration, of IKEA willing to venture into unexplored paths and borrow the approach of famous fashion-design crossovers already exploited by other brands? Is it ready to renounce on its clean looks, in order to attract different types of consumers?

IKEA’s main designer Marcus Engman discusses the extent of the collaboration, which, apparently, will see the Antwerp Six designer employed in pattern and print design, perhaps shaping the premise for a perfect juxtaposed collection of the minimalistic Scandinavian product design and Van Beirendonck’s crazy antics. A video released by IKEA has Van Beirendonck talking about creating his textiles abound “Wondermooi”, a concept of his own fabrication but which roughly translated from Flemish means “very beautiful”. He elaborates on making up a story about characters that live in the clouds which ignited his creativity by moving from something fun into a more gloomy territory. The story would eventually evolve to different patterns each representing a character’s look, culminating in five different ranges of patterns and fabric.

Nevertheless, Walter Van Beirendonck’s work will not be confined only to flat surfaces, as all five prints will be transferred to a whole collection of interior design pieces, to be released in June 2016.

Recently, one of the founding members of the Antwerp Six responded to the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, by letting a see-through tank top with the words “Stop Terrorising Our World” open his AW 2015 fashion show. The powerful words a ready-made, a reused artwork from the slogan of Walter Van Beirendonck’s 2006 AW collection. The designer himself explained his stand to the French newspaper Le Point by simply stating that “when you see what is happening in the world, you must react.”

Throughout his career Van Beirendonck has combined his textile designs with artwork and elaborate graphics. His style aesthetic is not limited to textiles and he excels in expanding his abilities and communicative skills by any means. This includes showcasing inspiration from different cultures and historic events. There is always a message to be found in Walter van Beirendonck’s collections, be it clear or hidden. In his collection for AW 2014 it was written in bright red “Stop Racism” graphics. At his AW 2010 fashion show, all his models wore big earmuffs and some carried guns. He was then quoted to say that he felt the world was a scary place, and these accessories exemplified his view on the current state of society. The notion of his designs seems to steam from a need to express thoughts, feelings, and annoyances. They all fuel Van Beirendoncks creative process, and instead of using pen and paper he uses needle and thread.

Fashion can be viewed as a means to communicate; it is a way to portray more than just a shallow surface. The fashion world’s combination of a global and intermedia platform harvests an important echo for designers to open up their minds, an approach Walter Van Beirendonck seems to have taken to heart. Fashion may be considered a frivolity by many and using it as a media for these messages may be somewhat ironic. However, fashion is also one of the world’s most lucrative businesses and has a great capital in the markets, which makes it a loud voice to use when in need to speak up your mind.

On the other hand, Mr. Doroshenko describes the Belgian designer as “one of the most important fashion designers in Europe” and his creations as “never about the everyday, they are pure theater.” He thought that showing his latest works in Texas’ capital city could be very interesting. 
Even if Dallas appears as a conservative and quite silent city in the South of America, far from the shiny world of fashion, the city offers a lot of culture: it counts about 20 structures between galleries and museums. 
“Lust never sleeps” and “Silent Secrets” are the collections presented in the show. The inspiration for the first, FW 2012-13, is inspired by Haiti voodoo rituals and Papua New Guinea, melted with an idea of abstract futuristic dandy. The second one, SS 2013, derives from a reaction to everything over-visible nowadays, due to the always-increasing social media world. 
The one-of-a-kind pieces are shown on a series of motorized rotating pedestals, allowing visitors to experience the garments from every perspective.

The exhibition has coincided with the beginning of Arts Week, started on 12th April and the collections will be on show untill 19th August 2013. 
Entrance at Dallas Contemporary is always free.

Last weekend a new breed of Antwerpian couturiers were presented as The Royal Academy of Fine Arts revealed the Graduate collections, 33 years after the birth of the infamous Antwerp Six.

In the year of 1988, Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee nailed Antwerp to the map as a fashion city. The group would eventually in the years of 80/81 graduate from the school, but in 88 they all squeezed together in a truck and headed for The London Fashion Fair where they presented their collections and marked a new era. Their aesthetics differences aside, the common ground was clearly the experimental silhouettes and conceptualism – no wonder Martin Margiela is often considered the 7th member of the family.

The international influence of the Antwerp Six is a complex and vast subject. However, while studying this years master’s students you soon realize that Van Noten, Margiela & Van Demeulemeester never really left the building.

Manon Kündig has channelled Van Noten’s sense of layering as well as colouring and printing. Ray Benedict Pador introduced a contemporary gothic man in the spirit of Van Deulemeester – with a pinch of S/M-culture. Finally, So Takayama sang her louanges to Margiela, as she sent her mannequins down the runway in exaggerated paper-like silhouettes.

Belgian designer Alexandra Verschueren, who graduated from the very same school in 2009, has acknowledged the Antwerp Six’s influence on the school and Belgian fashion community, “I think it definitely influenced me in a way. It always felt kind of weird to have six such great designers, since Belgium is such a small country.”

For the past 30 years the country has been a noted fashion nation in their own right, with a heritage that will continue to grow with every new generation of designers, as they interpret the days gone by.