Ensemble, Walter Van Beirendonck

• Walter Van Beirendonck

• Label on the woven cloth coat, inside middle back neckline, red on white: "Walter Van Beirendonck"
• Ready-to-wear, fall-winter 2019-20, "WoW" collection
• Purple brushed wool. Parma polyester faux fur. Beige marbled horn buttons. Gold and white changing twill lining. Knit 80% polyamide and 20% elastane grey anthracite printed in yellow, sky blue, orange, bottle green and candy pink. Polyester quilted fabric with pale yellow, water green and bottle green stripes, purple. Silver plated metal. Yellow and purple cords. Purple faux leather. Beige rubber. Black plastic.
• GAL2020.2.53.1-6
• Acquisition, Vogue Paris Foundation 2019
• Palais Galliera, musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris

Flemish fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck (1957-present) is one of the '6 of Antwerp', alongside Dries Van Noten, Marina Yee, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dirk Van Saene and Ann Demeulemeester. Graduates of the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts between 1980 and 1982, they chose to show their collections together in London from then on, before dissociating themselves around 1989.

Mottled, playful, political, sometimes outraged, Walter Van Beirendonck's style differs from that of his more sober-looking colleagues. His collections question gender, society, and the canons of beauty while playing with the structure of classic clothing, which he deforms with fantasy and provocation.

But above all, Walter Van Beirendonck is a major figure in the history of men's fashion, whose wardrobe he renews, breaks the austere codes and brightens up the creative aridity.

The autumn-winter 2019-20 "WoW" collection represents a strong comeback for the designer. Anonymous, a majority of these silhouettes have their faces covered by a multicoloured mask inspired by Mexican wrestlers. Van Beirendonck had already used them for his autumn-winter 1995-96 fashion show, the images of which toured the world. It is worn with a cyclist's knitted suit and a heavy, broad pilgrim coat in lilac faux fur. At the feet, real Moon ski boots are made in collaboration with the eponymous brand that created them in the 1970s.

Notice's author : Alexandre Samson