“Emphasis on NEW!” So said Walter Van Beirendonck’s seasonal proclamation. The designer’s show for fall was located just outside of the 18th arrondissement, in the northern suburb of Saint-Ouen. Far. The considerable distance from the city center meant that this was a room packed with only the truest of Van Beirendonck believer—the perfect crowd for the cultiest of cult designers to offer his latest edict.
“The boom of vintage or archival clothing, although a fantastic step towards a more sustainable fashion world, makes for few interesting or unseen volumes walking the streets,” wrote Van Beirendonck in this season’s decree. “The nostalgia for the looks of old subcultures leaves little space for mind-blowing new techniques, applications, or cuts to land on the runways,” he continued.
It’s a provocative statement, one that could easily read as taunting had it not come from such a big-eyed designer, and were it not an acutely precise one. If fashion folk—designers, editors, stylists—whose role in culture is to be forward looking, are all too preoccupied chasing (or reissuing, really) the past, then who is taking care of the future?
Leave it to Van Beirendonck to be the one to look ahead, even after four decades in business. (It should not go unmentioned that Van Beirendonck deep-cuts do big numbers on the resale market.) Rather than do anything too outlandish, Van Beirendonck reconsidered the suit here—though the show was not without the usual dosage of extraterrestrial elements, see the silicone finger extensions. He widened trousers with an abundance of pleats for some extra ballooning leg action and cut shoulder-hugging, elongated jackets (which looked fantastic with shorts, too). The idea was simple, but it did feel new. A few additional alien-like motifs, fringed baseball caps, and some dystopian workwear underscored its effectiveness.
Though transforming dreams into fashion can be a “costly journey,” Van Beirendonck wrote that he believes it’s his responsibility to continue “pushing what is possible.” He is the last of the Antwerp 6 showing on a Fashion Week schedule, and even after all this time—or most likely because of all this time—he is one of fashion’s most singular and honest minds. The show ended with each model sitting on an alien-shaped chair matching their outfit. They lifted their silicone fingers to flash peace signs as if at Van Beirendonck’s command: Peace, particularly today, remains the designer’s most crucial and daring declaration.
