The atmosphere at MoMu’s VIP preview for ‘The Antwerp Six’ was thick with history, more akin to a homecoming than a standard opening. Dries Van Noten embraced Walter Van Beirendonck; Raf Simons greeted Pieter Mulier. Ann Demeulemeester, guiding the current creative director of her house, paused before a display case. “That’s my Golden Spindle,” she noted, referencing the award she won in 1982, just after graduating from Antwerp’s Royal Academy. That moment, for the six graduates who would soon disrupt global fashion, was a prelude to a revolution that began with the very foundation of dress: the body and its intimate architecture.
The exhibition, a multimedia retrospective, drew figures like Stephen Jones and Suzy Menkes. Mulier, reflecting on his youth, pointed to Dirk Bikkembergs as his formative brand. Bikkembergs’s iconic lace-up ankle boots, a fusion of athletic rigor and avant-garde tailoring, echoed a broader shift in the 1980s and ‘90s where lingerie’s principles—structure, liberation, second-skin intimacy—migrated to outerwear. This conceptual thread connects to Van Beirendonck’s bold silhouettes and Demeulemeester’s poetic drapery, each exploring the relationship between garment and skin.
In her speech, Antwerp’s mayor, wearing Christian Wijnants, credited the Six with making the city a creative stronghold. Their legacy, evident in the archival videos and garments on display, is a testament to how reimagining the body’s relationship with cloth can reshape an entire city’s identity. As the group retired for a dinner in a 17th-century chapel, Jones stood out in a vibrant Van Beirendonck jacket from 1996—a preserved artifact of that enduring, radical spirit.
Originally reported by WWD