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The Belgian city of Antwerp is home to some of the world's most radical designers. But none is more daring than Walter Van Beirendonck, says James Anderson.
Yet, for every designer offering subtle sartorial solutions, there are other mischief-makers unveiling more outlandish finery. "Cool" and "understated" are certainly not words that might be applied to the kooky menswear offerings from, for example, current cult labels such as Bernhard Willhelm and Cassette Playa - or even to the offerings of more established subversives such as Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier and John Galliano, for that matter.
King of daring menswear; however, must surely be the Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendenck - the stocky, bearded Hell's Angel lookalike who staunchly sticks to his aesthetic guns while others play it safe. "His collections always combine a hedonistic mix of violence, comic culture, brilliant colour, science fiction, sex and humour,” says Hywel Davies, author of the recently published book, Modern Menswear. "Walter constantly offers radical menswear alternatives - and he has obviously influenced designers such as Cassette Playa and Bernhard Willhelm with his nonconformist attitude."
Indeed, notorious Van Beirendonck catwalk presentations from the 1990s, such as Paradise Pleasure Productions, featured huge, musclebound models sporting garish head-to-toe latex bodysuits underneath the actual clothes, while the legendary 4D-Hi-D show staged in the Paris Lido caused a storm when masked and wigged models, unable to see properly, toppled off the catwalk one by one into the astonished audience's laps.
After a spell away from the catwalks - while undertaking myriad projects such as the production of ZulupaPUWA, a children's line, in addition to becoming artistic director of Scapa sportswear; his Sex Clown spring/summer 2008 and Skin King autumn/winter 2008/9 collections, both presented in Paris, have recently proved that he is as on-form as ever.
"Both collections are dominated by a search for making new dimensional' garments," begins the surprisingly softly spoken Van Beirendonck. “Box shapes and unexpected accents - wings, corsets, higher and wider shoulders - redefine a man's body."
He continues: "The Sex Clown collection was very static, almost like sculptures. The Skin King collection uses the same box-shapes, but I translated these in a more soft way, so every piece of the garment has an extra dimension and is padded.
“I also worked around the burka theme - covering the head and face. Masks are something that I've always loved, but now, with all the news around this subject, they are, for me, also a reflection on our contemporary world."
And as for those saucy strap-on dildos being worn by some of the models at the Skin King presentations.. These prompted grins and grimaces from onlookers, in equal measure. "My aim when designing is never only to shock- everything that I create comes naturally and spontaneously," says Van Beirendonck, who always underpins his collections, however zany they superficially appear; with intriguing narratives ranging from eco or political concerns, to explorations into gender and war. "I think the role of creative artists is to keep the audience awake and to confront them with new ways of seeing and experiencing the world."
To more fully understand Van Beirendonck's entrenched self-belief, one should look to Antwerp, where he resides and works. And. specifically, to the city's internationally respected Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the design hotbed that he attended back in the early 1980s,and whose fashion students he continues to teach in his current role as head of the fashion department (Bernhard Willhelm is one of many former students). "We concentrate on the artistic side of fashion there," says Van Beirendonck, proudly. "The students have the luxury of experimenting for four years, and the possibility to develop their own signature.”
This very approach saw Van Beirendonck graduating in the early 1980s, alongside other ground-breaking fellow students such as Ann Demeulemeester; Dries Van Noten, Marina Yee, Dirk Van Saene (his long-term partner) and Dirk Bikkembergs. The London style press subsequently named them The Antwerp Six.
From the late 1980s through to the late Nineties, Van Beirendonck unleashed eye-popping collections for men and women, via catwalk presentations under both his own name and his hugely successful W< (Wild & Lethal Trash) line for Mustang Jeans (typical shows included over 100 models and sets made from giant revolving cakes).
He opened his own store-meets-art gallery in a former garage in Antwerp - still an essential port of call for any fashion lover - and branched out into costume design for the likes of U2 (on the band's multimedia PopMart tour of 1997), and later for the Royal Ballet of Flanders, in addition to contributing to many international art and fashion exhibitions and books.
By the late Nineties, however, having acrimoniously parted company with Mustang Jeans, Van Beirendonck's distinctive aesthetic seemed worryingly marginalised, as stark minimalism then rampant luxury became the dominant moods in fashion. "Yes, of course I was out of tune," he admits, "but, remaining loyal to my own aesthetics and ideas, I kept on believing, and I went on and on, despite the fact that it was sometimes really difficult and heavy, I always had very loyal followers, though.."
Charle Porter, associate editor of GQ Style, is one such longtime advocate. He sums up the designer's various shifts in popularity thus: "In a time when luxury has become fashion, Walter couldn't be further from what is wanted by the luxury conglomerates. Because they've become so dominant, it meant that he slipped from the focus of the media, which has shifted its attention to everything that's luxe."
On a positive note, however; Porter adds: "Now that we're coming out of that period, it's individual voices such as his that are saying the most interesting things." So, aside from always commanding a diehard following of loyal Walterites around the world, the tide has, as Porter confirms, begun to turn back in Van Beirendonck's favour during the past couple of years. This shift in mood has also garnered Van Beirendonck a new generation of urban devotees (some of them seeing his work for the first time, splashed across recent issues of cutting-edge style magazines such as i-D and Another Man) who are more in tune with the spirit and inventiveness of the Belgian's designs, than concerned with unattainable notions of luxury.
The result? Van Beirendonck is now clearly on a creative, commercial and critical roll once more - "Ive been overwhelmed by positive reactions, from the press and also buyers!" - and news that Comme des Garçons' ever-innovative Dover Street Market stores in London and Japan will stock pieces from the Skin King collection later this year has, no doubt, left him cock-a-hoop.
Talking of which, while that aforementioned dildo accessory could just be a good look for a fashion-forward kind of nightclub, sporting it down to the supermarket might be a less wise style statement. Unless you've got balls of steel, that is.
Yet, for every designer offering subtle sartorial solutions, there are other mischief-makers unveiling more outlandish finery. "Cool" and "understated" are certainly not words that might be applied to the kooky menswear offerings from, for example, current cult labels such as Bernhard Willhelm and Cassette Playa - or even to the offerings of more established subversives such as Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier and John Galliano, for that matter.
King of daring menswear; however, must surely be the Belgian designer Walter Van Beirendenck - the stocky, bearded Hell's Angel lookalike who staunchly sticks to his aesthetic guns while others play it safe. "His collections always combine a hedonistic mix of violence, comic culture, brilliant colour, science fiction, sex and humour,” says Hywel Davies, author of the recently published book, Modern Menswear. "Walter constantly offers radical menswear alternatives - and he has obviously influenced designers such as Cassette Playa and Bernhard Willhelm with his nonconformist attitude."
Indeed, notorious Van Beirendonck catwalk presentations from the 1990s, such as Paradise Pleasure Productions, featured huge, musclebound models sporting garish head-to-toe latex bodysuits underneath the actual clothes, while the legendary 4D-Hi-D show staged in the Paris Lido caused a storm when masked and wigged models, unable to see properly, toppled off the catwalk one by one into the astonished audience's laps.
After a spell away from the catwalks - while undertaking myriad projects such as the production of ZulupaPUWA, a children's line, in addition to becoming artistic director of Scapa sportswear; his Sex Clown spring/summer 2008 and Skin King autumn/winter 2008/9 collections, both presented in Paris, have recently proved that he is as on-form as ever.
"Both collections are dominated by a search for making new dimensional' garments," begins the surprisingly softly spoken Van Beirendonck. “Box shapes and unexpected accents - wings, corsets, higher and wider shoulders - redefine a man's body."
He continues: "The Sex Clown collection was very static, almost like sculptures. The Skin King collection uses the same box-shapes, but I translated these in a more soft way, so every piece of the garment has an extra dimension and is padded.
“I also worked around the burka theme - covering the head and face. Masks are something that I've always loved, but now, with all the news around this subject, they are, for me, also a reflection on our contemporary world."
And as for those saucy strap-on dildos being worn by some of the models at the Skin King presentations.. These prompted grins and grimaces from onlookers, in equal measure. "My aim when designing is never only to shock- everything that I create comes naturally and spontaneously," says Van Beirendonck, who always underpins his collections, however zany they superficially appear; with intriguing narratives ranging from eco or political concerns, to explorations into gender and war. "I think the role of creative artists is to keep the audience awake and to confront them with new ways of seeing and experiencing the world."
To more fully understand Van Beirendonck's entrenched self-belief, one should look to Antwerp, where he resides and works. And. specifically, to the city's internationally respected Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the design hotbed that he attended back in the early 1980s,and whose fashion students he continues to teach in his current role as head of the fashion department (Bernhard Willhelm is one of many former students). "We concentrate on the artistic side of fashion there," says Van Beirendonck, proudly. "The students have the luxury of experimenting for four years, and the possibility to develop their own signature.”
This very approach saw Van Beirendonck graduating in the early 1980s, alongside other ground-breaking fellow students such as Ann Demeulemeester; Dries Van Noten, Marina Yee, Dirk Van Saene (his long-term partner) and Dirk Bikkembergs. The London style press subsequently named them The Antwerp Six.
From the late 1980s through to the late Nineties, Van Beirendonck unleashed eye-popping collections for men and women, via catwalk presentations under both his own name and his hugely successful W< (Wild & Lethal Trash) line for Mustang Jeans (typical shows included over 100 models and sets made from giant revolving cakes).
He opened his own store-meets-art gallery in a former garage in Antwerp - still an essential port of call for any fashion lover - and branched out into costume design for the likes of U2 (on the band's multimedia PopMart tour of 1997), and later for the Royal Ballet of Flanders, in addition to contributing to many international art and fashion exhibitions and books.
By the late Nineties, however, having acrimoniously parted company with Mustang Jeans, Van Beirendonck's distinctive aesthetic seemed worryingly marginalised, as stark minimalism then rampant luxury became the dominant moods in fashion. "Yes, of course I was out of tune," he admits, "but, remaining loyal to my own aesthetics and ideas, I kept on believing, and I went on and on, despite the fact that it was sometimes really difficult and heavy, I always had very loyal followers, though.."
Charle Porter, associate editor of GQ Style, is one such longtime advocate. He sums up the designer's various shifts in popularity thus: "In a time when luxury has become fashion, Walter couldn't be further from what is wanted by the luxury conglomerates. Because they've become so dominant, it meant that he slipped from the focus of the media, which has shifted its attention to everything that's luxe."
On a positive note, however; Porter adds: "Now that we're coming out of that period, it's individual voices such as his that are saying the most interesting things." So, aside from always commanding a diehard following of loyal Walterites around the world, the tide has, as Porter confirms, begun to turn back in Van Beirendonck's favour during the past couple of years. This shift in mood has also garnered Van Beirendonck a new generation of urban devotees (some of them seeing his work for the first time, splashed across recent issues of cutting-edge style magazines such as i-D and Another Man) who are more in tune with the spirit and inventiveness of the Belgian's designs, than concerned with unattainable notions of luxury.
The result? Van Beirendonck is now clearly on a creative, commercial and critical roll once more - "Ive been overwhelmed by positive reactions, from the press and also buyers!" - and news that Comme des Garçons' ever-innovative Dover Street Market stores in London and Japan will stock pieces from the Skin King collection later this year has, no doubt, left him cock-a-hoop.
Talking of which, while that aforementioned dildo accessory could just be a good look for a fashion-forward kind of nightclub, sporting it down to the supermarket might be a less wise style statement. Unless you've got balls of steel, that is.