Antwerp celebrates young creatives with mega fashion show
In the small barrel there is good wine. A collected, secluded city, but close to the sea and rich in cultural fusion. A melting pot of languages and cultures. Perhaps this is the secret of Antwerp's creative richness. Less in the limelight than major centers such as New York, London, Paris, or Milan, the city of diamonds once again confirms its vocation as a hotbed of ideas. Its fashion, in particular, continues to lead the way on the international creative scene, energizing the style offices of the most important luxury maisons with new life.
A true global creative hub, each year Antwerp hosts the end-of-year show of the fashion department of the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts. It is a grand celebration of fashion across the board, from the history of costume and technique to material research and new forms of communication.
The event, staged under the direction of the Fdc-Flanders District of Creativity and with financial support from the government and local authorities, reflects the spirit of Antwerp, a city that rejects standardization and where small independent fashion boutiques dominate, leaving no room for large chains or department stores.
The moment of the fashion show was preceded by an entire afternoon devoted to presentations of the collections of the 14 final-year students. Young designers ready to pick up the baton from the 'Antwerp Six' (think Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Ann Demeulemeester), who graduated right here in the 1980s before revolutionizing the international catwalks with their unconventional aesthetic.
The Expo took place at the academy's headquarters, which can boast in its ranks as former students designers such as Af Vandevorst, Haider Ackermann, and Kris Van Assche, to the more recent Demna Gvasalia (Gucci) and Glenn Martens (Diesel and Maison Margiela).
The fashion department is public, and young designers fund their projects independently, but in return, the school offers significant financial prizes, such as the 5,000-euro prize named after Christine Mathys, a Dries Van Noten partner who passed away in the 1990s.
"In the Antwerp fashion department, there is a group of young, talent-hungry designers who are challenging the world, who are daring, and who excite me about coming to this department every week to take classes and be a part of what they envision for this world," said Brandon Wen, an alumnus and now the artistic director of the department.
More than 120 students paraded inside a maxi hangar on the banks of the Scheldt River on the evening of June 7. Thousands of people flocked to the event that entertained the public for more than four hours. It was a true fashion marathon that opened with the creations of first-year students, who were responsible for the famous case study of skirts. A parade of total-white skirts in a wide variety of shapes gave way to graphic compositions, dominated by soft neon colors in bands, before closing with textured experiments with house-dresses and extra-large volumes.
The show continued with a two-act plunge into the past by second-year students. They paraded historical costumes (1600s to 1800s) culminating in sublime dance choreography. A techno soundtrack opens the curtain on the second act and provides a backdrop for dresses 'from the future.' Multi-layering dominates: trench coats over bodices on long bell-shaped skirts. Models sport giant shoulder pads, glittery denim, and headpieces in unusual shapes.
The third section is dedicated to world costume. Penultimate year designers draw on the traditions of their home nations as inspiration for their collections. A 40-minute tour of the world, from the Dominican Republic to Japan, via Canada, Brazil, and Poland. Also on the runway is Italian Mauro Cuccuru, with his fashion homage to his homeland, Sardinia.
The evening culminated with the highly anticipated show of the 14 masters who performed their works under the watchful eyes of their professors and a prestigious international jury also composed of Italians Stefano Martinetto (CEO Tomorrow Group), Rina Tollio (OTB), and Stefano Gallucci (Ann Demeulemeester).
Spain's Mari Albores Lojo walked the runway with a reinterpretation of the Galician tradition. American Emiliano Alvarez Torres brought attention to a new ecological narrative, while Dutch Sybrand Jansen reflected on the relationship between the organic and the infinite. The tension between illusion and reality characterized the proposal of South Korean Anji Jiyoung. Chinese Jaden Xinyu Li was inspired by Alain Badiou's work, "In Praise of Love", and conceived of love as a transformative event. Floran Polano took refuge in childhood memories as an antidote to the adult world. His clothes, in fact, were as enveloping as a parent's embrace of their child.
George Underwood's paintings inspired the 'surrealist' woman of Belgian Chloë Reners, while fellow Belgian Annaelle Reudink brought to the runway a colorful homage to existence and the infinite lives that coexist within each of us. Knitwear was at the center of Swiss Lille Schmid's proposal; Indian-born Dutchman Amar Singh evaded realities with fantasy or clown looks. From China's Beliu Song came the study of human error applied to clothing choice. Delara Tavassotti's meticulous and super technical work reflected the tension of a life suspended between present and past, while Paula Van Dijck celebrated superficiality as a tool for anthropological investigation through the use of materials that seduce and protect. Finally, Hoyt Zhang's wardrobe created a comfort zone after the traumas of the pandemic.
The show ended after midnight with the catwalk stormed by designers and models who hurriedly gained the end of the hangar amid bursts of confetti and applause from the audience. A pro-Palestinian flag and a sign extolling peace also appeared among the revelers.
It was a moment of boundless creativity that transcended the trends or canons of the present and became a spokesman for radically new ideas and aesthetics. An event that benefits from a cultural background rooted in the glorious Antwerp Six and now looking to the next six. Who, among these young designers, will succeed?
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Fashion Network
4 days ago
- Fashion Network
Antwerp celebrates young creatives with mega fashion show
In the small barrel there is good wine. A collected, secluded city, but close to the sea and rich in cultural fusion. A melting pot of languages and cultures. Perhaps this is the secret of Antwerp's creative richness. Less in the limelight than major centers such as New York, London, Paris, or Milan, the city of diamonds once again confirms its vocation as a hotbed of ideas. Its fashion, in particular, continues to lead the way on the international creative scene, energizing the style offices of the most important luxury maisons with new life. A true global creative hub, each year Antwerp hosts the end-of-year show of the fashion department of the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts. It is a grand celebration of fashion across the board, from the history of costume and technique to material research and new forms of communication. The event, staged under the direction of the Fdc-Flanders District of Creativity and with financial support from the government and local authorities, reflects the spirit of Antwerp, a city that rejects standardization and where small independent fashion boutiques dominate, leaving no room for large chains or department stores. The moment of the fashion show was preceded by an entire afternoon devoted to presentations of the collections of the 14 final-year students. Young designers ready to pick up the baton from the 'Antwerp Six' (think Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Ann Demeulemeester), who graduated right here in the 1980s before revolutionizing the international catwalks with their unconventional aesthetic. The Expo took place at the academy's headquarters, which can boast in its ranks as former students designers such as Af Vandevorst, Haider Ackermann, and Kris Van Assche, to the more recent Demna Gvasalia (Gucci) and Glenn Martens (Diesel and Maison Margiela). The fashion department is public, and young designers fund their projects independently, but in return, the school offers significant financial prizes, such as the 5,000-euro prize named after Christine Mathys, a Dries Van Noten partner who passed away in the 1990s. "In the Antwerp fashion department, there is a group of young, talent-hungry designers who are challenging the world, who are daring, and who excite me about coming to this department every week to take classes and be a part of what they envision for this world," said Brandon Wen, an alumnus and now the artistic director of the department. More than 120 students paraded inside a maxi hangar on the banks of the Scheldt River on the evening of June 7. Thousands of people flocked to the event that entertained the public for more than four hours. It was a true fashion marathon that opened with the creations of first-year students, who were responsible for the famous case study of skirts. A parade of total-white skirts in a wide variety of shapes gave way to graphic compositions, dominated by soft neon colors in bands, before closing with textured experiments with house-dresses and extra-large volumes. The show continued with a two-act plunge into the past by second-year students. They paraded historical costumes (1600s to 1800s) culminating in sublime dance choreography. A techno soundtrack opens the curtain on the second act and provides a backdrop for dresses 'from the future.' Multi-layering dominates: trench coats over bodices on long bell-shaped skirts. Models sport giant shoulder pads, glittery denim, and headpieces in unusual shapes. The third section is dedicated to world costume. Penultimate year designers draw on the traditions of their home nations as inspiration for their collections. A 40-minute tour of the world, from the Dominican Republic to Japan, via Canada, Brazil, and Poland. Also on the runway is Italian Mauro Cuccuru, with his fashion homage to his homeland, Sardinia. The evening culminated with the highly anticipated show of the 14 masters who performed their works under the watchful eyes of their professors and a prestigious international jury also composed of Italians Stefano Martinetto (CEO Tomorrow Group), Rina Tollio (OTB), and Stefano Gallucci (Ann Demeulemeester). Spain's Mari Albores Lojo walked the runway with a reinterpretation of the Galician tradition. American Emiliano Alvarez Torres brought attention to a new ecological narrative, while Dutch Sybrand Jansen reflected on the relationship between the organic and the infinite. The tension between illusion and reality characterized the proposal of South Korean Anji Jiyoung. Chinese Jaden Xinyu Li was inspired by Alain Badiou's work, "In Praise of Love", and conceived of love as a transformative event. Floran Polano took refuge in childhood memories as an antidote to the adult world. His clothes, in fact, were as enveloping as a parent's embrace of their child. George Underwood's paintings inspired the 'surrealist' woman of Belgian Chloë Reners, while fellow Belgian Annaelle Reudink brought to the runway a colorful homage to existence and the infinite lives that coexist within each of us. Knitwear was at the center of Swiss Lille Schmid's proposal; Indian-born Dutchman Amar Singh evaded realities with fantasy or clown looks. From China's Beliu Song came the study of human error applied to clothing choice. Delara Tavassotti's meticulous and super technical work reflected the tension of a life suspended between present and past, while Paula Van Dijck celebrated superficiality as a tool for anthropological investigation through the use of materials that seduce and protect. Finally, Hoyt Zhang's wardrobe created a comfort zone after the traumas of the pandemic. The show ended after midnight with the catwalk stormed by designers and models who hurriedly gained the end of the hangar amid bursts of confetti and applause from the audience. A pro-Palestinian flag and a sign extolling peace also appeared among the revelers. It was a moment of boundless creativity that transcended the trends or canons of the present and became a spokesman for radically new ideas and aesthetics. An event that benefits from a cultural background rooted in the glorious Antwerp Six and now looking to the next six. Who, among these young designers, will succeed?
LeMonde
01-06-2025
- LeMonde
The forgotten people of the Osaka ghetto: The dark side of the World Expo
When Marlene Dietrich took the stage at the Osaka World Expo on September 8, 1970, and began singing "Lili Marleen" in her silk dress, Jōtarō Shōji was in the crowd. He was moved, starstruck at his first music hall show, a kid from a poor background who had made it to the big city. Yet that day, he was not just there for Dietrich: "I had worked on the Expo site, at the Czech pavilion. It was behind schedule and we took big risks to finish on time. Friends of mine died there." Shōji was also there to say goodbye to his companions. After the concert, he returned to the world behind the stage, to Kamagasaki, the grimy ghetto of the Nishinari neighborhood, where he lived with his fellow workers, the builders of the Expo, 25,000 young workers crammed into seedy dormitories. There, he slipped into a box measuring 50 centimeters by 170 centimeters. His room was like a coffin. With "Lili Marleen" running through his head, he thought of his comrades who had died on the construction site. "Since they had neither money nor insurance," the now-septuagenarian recalled, "we pooled our money together to buy them funeral urns." Glamorous and futuristic, the Osaka World Expo, held from March 15 to September 13, 1970, remains a source of great pride for Japan, which presented a modern and optimistic face to the world. But 30 kilometers south of the site, Kamagasaki, the major market for day labor, remained a taboo subject, the hidden dark side of the event. Fifty-five years later, on April 13, the 2025 Expo opened in the same city, on an artificial island named Yumeshima ("Dream Island"). And Kamagasaki is still there, clinging to the southern edge of Osaka, one of the wealthiest cities in Japan.
Fashion Network
23-04-2025
- Fashion Network
In Oakland, fashion retail makes San Francisco jealous
After twenty years of climbing the crime ladder, Oakland has been enjoying a new lease on life for the past few months. Long in the shadow of San Francisco, this symbol of American diversity - almost 50% of its population is Black and Latino - is showing a new optimism, with cutting-edge fashion boutiques opening in recent months. A new vintage clothing scene, Oakland now boasts around twenty vintage specialists including Mercy Vintage, The Sunshine Prophecy, Sola Lucy, Black Bear Apparel, Down at Lulu's and Mira Flores. In recent months, the city has also seen the emergence of a number of new boutiques, including Relove, opened in 2014 at 1815 Polk Street in San Francisco by Ethiopian-born Californian entrepreneur Delia Hailechristos, whose second store opened a stone's throw from the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland in 2023. Housed in a two-storey 1920s building, this new temple of vintage, with arches and columns on the first floor, offers a wide selection ranging from luxury vintage with brands such as Loewe, Dries Van Noten and Marc Jacobs, to creative Japanese labels such as Junya Watanabe, Doublet, Facetasm, workwear brands, and other couture pieces. Arranged by genre and color, Relove's wardrobe rubs shoulders with works of art belonging to the owner, such as paintings by local artist Jereme Mendez, or the in situ fresco dedicated to voguing by Devynn Barnes. The ground-floor lounge is occupied by objects for the home, candlesticks and ceramics from Mexico, a collection of vintage glasses and shoes. "Oakland is the heart of the whole Bay Area," said Hailechristos. 'All my creative friends live, create, work and perform here. The music, art and fashion scene is unlike anywhere else in the world. So it was only natural to open a boutique here. Oakland is a radical city, but one that doesn't draw the spotlight to itself." Oakland natives Marco Verdin and Tai Raino-Tsui, one the son of immigrants from El Salvador, the other a native American, opened their 3319 Marché in spring 2023, a hybrid fashion boutique combining vintage and contemporary offerings, conceived in place of a former hairdressing salon and designed as an art gallery, with furniture on display, live upcycling performances and curation of art objects and books. "We've created 3319 to appear as ambiguous as possible, throughout platforms both digitally and physically," explained the founders. "3319 is pioneering a new culture in Oakland, with a blend of elegance yet localized roots. The brand focuses on a range of artistic mediums: music, art, and fashion. Blending these three mediums in a highly curated way has given our brand a reputation foreign to its market, and allowed us to operate as much more than just a physical retail operation.' The racks at 3319 Marché feature a mix of haute couture-avant-garde brands 'not offered in any tangible way in the neighborhood,' added the founders, including Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Issey Miyake, Rick Owens, Craig Green, Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Loewe and Kiko Kostadinov. Until the end of April, 3319 Marché is also home to the Dial Ring showroom, featuring second-hand items from brands such as Miu Miu, Comme des Garçons, Fendi, Marni, Prada and Raf Simons. Another Oakland reference, Standard & Strange, a multi-brand dedicated to crafted, heritage menswear, was founded by Jeremy Smith and Neil Berrett. "We started out in 2012 as two guys selling our own denim with a tiny 200-square-foot space in a back alley in Oakland. We saw that people wanted a warm, friendly, inclusive store that sold the denim and other gear we were wearing at the time,' said the founders. 'The first space we occupied had originally been the municipal stables for the City of Oakland. Then we moved into a new space around the corner to 5010 Telegraph Avenue, which is one of the oldest masonry buildings in Oakland.' After opening a second boutique in Santa Fe in 2019, the founders of Standard & Strange opened their third boutique at 238 Mulberry Street in Soho in 2021. Each boutique presents a different selection of well-made brands and pieces which have a strong narrative or story behind them. These include a large contingent of Japanese brands, with flagship denim by Momotaro, Kapital and OrSlow, ready-to-wear by Visvim and Porter luggage. Other heritage and craft brands complete the selection, including German Merz American John Gluckow and French De Bonne Facture. The company also sells its own collection and its Mizunara Single Cask Whiskey brand, made in California. Another sign of the Oakland creativity was the opening in 2023 of a brand-new concept store called Two-Two, founded by Portland-born entrepreneur CC Doan, halfway between pop-up, gallery and boutique, bringing together the offbeat fashions of international designers, particularly from Asia. 'I first explored boutique opportunities in San Francisco and Oakland," explained Doan. 'In the end, I found the space in Grand Lake and all the right elements came together to make me feel like it could be a place for fashion, craft, and creative community. Because we have multiple ways people can discover and engage with our curation and also connect with each other, people don't see us as just a boutique. Someone may come in and shop one day, attend a creative workshop the next time, or come with friends to a pop-up we host with other creatives or artists. We get to witness people as multi-faceted beings, not just as customers. I think in that way there is demand for being seen authentically, to have a sense of belonging or connection with others, and to cater to self expression as a whole." At the Two-Two boutique, emerging designers and brands, with an emphasis on everyday wearable pieces, are displayed as if in an art gallery. 'These designers are often at a very sweet spot of both establishing their voice while having plenty of edge and playfulness to their approach and presentation. Caro Chia, Yusho Kobayashi, Lou Badger, Fey Fey Worldwide, Devastates and Grounds to name a few," added Doan. "Then there are designers and artists who I've met along my own creative journey over the years and having a space has brought us together to collaborate, like jewelry brand Ino, incense brand Hyungi, and ceramics by Studio Hecha. Another original initiative is that of Oakland-born designer Shauncy 'Salt' Jackson, who transformed her backyard into a safe space for community events hosted by her non-profit Oakland Don't Play Inc. She converted a storage container into a retail store where she sells her clothing line, Oakland Don't Play (ODP). "ODP is more than just a clothing brand," explained Jackson, via her website. 'It's a movement to remind the world that Oakland stands strong for its people, land, and unwavering commitment to equality. Inspired by the injustices faced by our community, ODP creates bold, fashion-forward clothing that proudly showcases Oakland pride. From the vibrant streets of Fruitvale to the serene shores of Lake Merritt, our designs capture the essence of our city and the spirit of its people."
