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Fashion Network
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- 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?
The National
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Discomfort and awe at Athar Jaber's first Dubai exhibition
Iraqi-Dutch artist Athar Jaber is marking his first solo exhibition in Dubai with a series of stone sculptures that evoke as much discomfort as awe. Busts show human faces with features that have been pummeled in or twisted out of place. Limbs, torsos and heads emerge with Hellenistic grace and detail from marble blocks that have otherwise been left coarse and unfinished. The body parts in Jaber's sculptures are severed and writhing. For him, they bare the weight of the modern world. The sculptures in the exhibition Vestiges, at Ayyam Gallery, are not new, with some having been produced as far back as 2014. Yet, Jaber says the exhibition presents the work that best embody his artistic intentions. 'This is the work that I compromised the least,' he tells The National. 'I feel they best represent me and the message I want to convey. I moved to the UAE just over a year ago. With Ayyam, we thought of doing a show. 'Galleries usually want to show the latest work, right? But I don't have a latest bodywork that is ready. I'm new to the local environment and the public still needs to get to know me. The work here is maybe 10 years old but it gives a good idea of what I stand for.' To understand Jaber's work, it is perhaps crucial to juxtapose it to the tenets of classical period Greek sculpture. After all, it was by copying ancient Greek works that Jaber honed his craft as a student in Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts. The sculptors of ancient Greece, specifically those who worked in the classical period between 510 to 323 BCE, often tried to represent the human body in its idealised form. This was likely influenced by Plato's theory of forms. The philosopher posited that there was a higher realm of existence that housed the perfect version of all forms. The chairs, apples and horses of this world were flawed and shadowy representations of the forms that existed in Plato's realm. This also applied to human bodies. The classical Greek sculptors chipped at marble slabs with that realm in mind, trying to achieve the ideal human form. In many ways, Athar has adopted an antithetical approach. Instead of rising towards Plato's realm of beauty and perfection, the artist is more interested in diving inward, using body parts to explore how we interiorise the ugliness of the world today. 'It speaks more to a state of being,' he says. 'An interior one of anxiety, of uncertainty, of unclear identity. I won't speak for everyone, but I think many of us feel that, right?' Born in Rome to Iraqi parents Afifa Aleiby and Jaber Alwan, both of whom are celebrated artists, Jaber has lived in several countries in Europe, as well as brief stints in Yemen and Russia. The experience, he says, has helped solidify an identity that goes beyond geographic borders. Yet, witnessing from afar the turmoil that has affected Iraq and the wider Middle East has left an indelible mark on his perception of the world – a mark he has sought to transpose in stone. 'People are sometimes disturbed or shocked by my work,' he says. 'But then look at what we have been fed through the media. Seeing what we've seen, I can't make beautiful things that just embellish and adorn.' Jaber says that he suspects there are many who feel the same way, and an idealised human form doesn't serve as an authentic reflection of this widespread interiority of anxiety at the state of the world. 'People need to see something that they recognise in themselves,' he says. 'I understand that many have seen enough ugliness, but if they see just beautiful sculptures, they feel even more detached from reality. You need to see something that represents you.' Jaber's work also addresses the margins between beauty and ugliness, creation and destruction. Several of his stone works brings to mind the destruction of Iraqi artefacts by Isis forces in 2014, especially with their beaten and disfigured pieces. 'I realised they were using the same tools that I used to create to destroy,' he says. 'They used the hammer and chisel, the angle grinder, the drill, all the tools that I use.' One piece, however, stands out in the way it emboldens the thin line between creation and destruction. If militants were using his tools to destroy art, he would use their tools of destruction to create. The piece of marble, vaguely resembling a head on a plinth, was formed by using a gun. Sixty four bullets were fired at the piece to bring it to form. The process was filmed and can be seen in the entrance to the exhibition. The work, Jaber says, presents a strange contrast. 'There is the contradiction of the beauty of the images,' he says. 'But it's something horrible that is happening. Like when you see buildings being demolished. It's horrible but we look and keep looking at them. There's that discomfort, where you're watching something terrible but enjoying it.' Vestiges is running at Ayyam Gallery until April 1
New York Times
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Four Emerging Designers to Put on Your Radar This Season
Mira Maktabi The Beirut-born, London-based designer Mira Maktabi credits her interest in fashion to her great-grandmother: 'Whether or not she had company, she would dress up in a long velvet caftan, beautiful eyeglasses and diamond rings while having cardamom tea at 5 p.m. sharp,' Maktabi, 26, says. The designer has brought this ethos of 'cherishing well-made garments that can [be passed down] for many generations' to her own brand, which she started after earning her master's from Central Saint Martins in London last year. With her graduate collection, Maktabi paid homage to her design heroes, such as the French couturiers Madame Grès and Madeleine Vionnet, who were masters of draping, using the technique on silk tops and georgette dresses. These appeared alongside cowhide leather jackets and softly tailored trousers, all in a limited palette of cream, chocolate brown and black. This month in London, she will present a trunk show of her fall 2025 collection, which she says 'is a bit dreamier, freer and more evening-focused.' Each item will be custom-made, she says, allowing the garments to 'truly belong to the person wearing them.' Though her home country of Lebanon was most recently hit by a series of Israeli airstrikes, Maktabi has trained herself to remain focused on her work: 'As Lebanese people, resilience is ingrained in us,' she says. 'Creation can be a form of escape.' Skarule Growing up in post-Soviet era Latvia, Sabine Skarule developed a DIY mentality at a young age. 'In '90s Riga, clothes weren't bought — they were made,' the designer, 35, says. 'My mother had a knitting machine, and I learned how to create a garment from scratch.' Though she moved to Antwerp, Belgium, at age 24 to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and, after graduating, relocated to New York for an internship at the Row, Skarule has remained deeply connected to her cultural heritage. Her 2020 graduate collection, for which she received the H&M Design Award, was titled '+371' in reference to Latvia's international telephone code, and she returned to Riga to start her namesake brand, which is defined by what she refers to as 'Baltic nostalgia.' Her spring 2025 collection includes an oversize black leather jacket with a pattern inspired by a traditional Latvian men's shirt, and she worked with local craftspeople on pieces like a hand-knit and crocheted mosaic silk vest and hand-woven linen pants with fringe. For her new collection, which she will present during Paris Fashion Week, 'the materials — linen, cotton, wool, leather — are deeply tied to a sense of home,' she says. 'The color palette is more grounded than usual. Riga's gray dominates.' She aims to infuse the brand, which is available at Mr. Larkin in Copenhagen and Houston, with what she calls 'a quiet undercurrent of Latvian traditions, superstitions and beliefs — the kind of details only a local would recognize.' Raquel de Carvalho The Brazilian designer Raquel de Carvalho, 33, fell in love with yarn in 2012, when she worked with a textile mill in Tuscany for a knitwear competition. Then in 2021, a few years after earning her postgraduate diploma from the London College of Fashion, she won a competition for emerging designers held in Florence and, as part of the prize, created a 12-piece collection. She established her namesake brand, which is now stocked at APOC Store in London, Magarchivio in Florence, Italy, and the Forumist in Stockholm, the following year. The inspiration for her new collection — which she will present with a short film and lookbook during London Fashion Week — was a hand-knit sweater from her late grandmother's wardrobe. 'She passed away the day after my graduate catwalk show, so I wanted to connect with her through this collection,' says de Carvalho. She sourced vintage Aran sweaters — chunky, hand-knit garments from Ireland — and then unpicked and reconstructed them using a combination of embroidery and crochet, before coating them with foil to give them the texture of leather. Other pieces include a sheer blouse with a trompe l'oeil crochet pattern and a gray knitted dress with metallic thread woven throughout. By screen printing a lace pattern onto jersey or playing with transparencies in her intarsia lace dresses, de Carvalho hopes to explore new possibilities with yarn and string. 'I think many people still see knitwear as something cozy and casual,' she says, 'but I like to take it somewhere unexpected.' Tíscar Espadas The Spanish designer Tíscar Espadas, 31, advocates for a slow approach to fashion, releasing only one collection a year, which she calls a 'capitulo' ('chapter') of her brand's book. 'We don't want to serve one season or a short period of time,' she says. 'Much more interesting for us is the idea of building a deeper and more complex story.' After earning a master's in men's wear from the Royal College of Art in London (where she was awarded a scholarship from Burberry), Espadas in 2019 established her own brand, which has developed a cult following in Japan and is stocked in Mexico, Taiwan, Switzerland and Spain. Last year, she won the Spanish Vogue Fashion Fund. Espadas's clothes often feature voluminous and off-kilter silhouettes; the new collection, which is currently on view at her Tokyo showroom, includes balloon-shaped shorts, elongated vests and coats adorned with ceramic jasmine flowers and sterling silver pins. 'We start from sketches, but we allow ourselves to make mistakes along the way,' she says of her design process. 'It's often in those moments that unexpected details come to life.'
