{"id":566464,"date":"2026-03-26T22:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566464\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T22:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:08:11","slug":"the-antwerp-six-are-getting-a-retrospective-at-the-momu-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566464\/","title":{"rendered":"The Antwerp Six Are Getting a Retrospective at the MoMu Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThat someone anointed a clutch of emerging Belgian designers The Antwerp<\/a> Six was something of a fluke \u2014 no doubt the abbreviation had something to do with their tongue-twisting names \u2014 but their talent, uncompromising visions, ambition and chutzpah were no accident.<\/p>\n

\n\tForty years after Marina Yee, Dries Van Noten<\/a>, Ann Demeulemeester<\/a>, Walter Van Beirendonck<\/a>, Dirk Bikkembergs and Dirk Van Saene burst onto the international scene, their hometown fashion museum MoMu is giving them the full exhibition<\/a> treatment. It opens to the public Saturday and runs through Jan. 17, 2027.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt turns educational, amusing and stirring, it documents a transformative era in fashion, demonstrates the power of original storytelling, exalts six unique personalities and careers \u2014 and serves as a potent rallying cry for unfettered, unrushed creativity.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI hope this is the inspiration we can give to the young generation, to try to remain independent,\u201d said Geert Bruloot, guest curator of the exhibition<\/a> and the ringleader of the Six\u2019s impromptu appearance at a London trade show in 1986 that sparked the myth, and made a small Belgian city an overnight fashion sensation. \u201c[The Six] did it their own way. They broke the rules their own way\u2026 so they were free to create whatever, whenever they wanted, until the last day they had their company.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tInside the exhibition celebrating 40 years of the Antwerp<\/a> Six at MoMu.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDominique Maitre\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tBurloot was joined by his co-curators Kaat Debo and Romy Cockx, who led WWD through the lively displays, which incorporate videos, music, installations and the occasional mechanical gizmo to dramatic effect \u2014 alongside dozens of garments culled from the museum\u2019s collection, which spans 45,000 objects, and the archives of the designers.<\/p>\n

\n\tAll of the Six except Yee, who died last November at age 67<\/a>, are expected to attend the VIP opening Friday along with such notables as Raf Simons, Pieter Mulier, Stephen Jones and Linda Loppa.<\/p>\n

\n\tBurloot, whose many claims to fame in Belgian fashion include operating the landmark Antwerp shoe store Coccodrillo for 36 years, said international retailers were instrumental in fanning the fame of the Antwerp Six, all alumni of the city\u2019s Royal Academy of Fine Arts.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey had just lived the adventure of the Japanese designers, which was a big success,\u201d he said, referring to the likes of Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Gar\u00e7ons and Yohji Yamamoto, who exploded onto the scene in the early \u201980s by showing in Paris. \u201cBut [the stores] needed a new story because they found out stories were working in fashion. It was new.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo be sure, the Antwerp Six offered diverse and radical aesthetic propositions \u2014 from Bikkembergs\u2019 obsession with soccer and athleticism to Demeuleemester\u2019s dark romanticism. Still, all boasted formidable design chops, deep cultural and historical knowledge, a respect for how garments are made, and a patient approach to brand building.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLooks by Dries Van Noten<\/a> at MoMu.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDominique Maitre\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tThey also operated somewhat on the margins of the industry, persevering with a strategy distinct from today\u2019s mega brands: No advertising, no celebrity dressing, no handbag push and no pre-collections.<\/p>\n

\n\tDemeulemeester, who was putting the finishing touches on her room in the exhibition last Thursday, stopped to explain her slow, deliberate approach. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI didn\u2019t want to wait until one beautiful manufacturer would fall out of the sky. I thought, I\u2019m going to start myself, and I\u2019ll see where I go,\u201d she related. \u201cAnd so I established the label in 1985 with [my husband] Patrick, and we started, little by little, step by step. I worked 10 years before I could do my first show because I started with a very, very little amount of money, and I constructed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a 2006 interview with WWD, Loppa, then head of the MoMu fashion museum and the Royal Academy of Fine Art\u2019s fashion school, noted that glamour was never a big concern for Belgian designers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the shops, Belgian designers have a good sell-through. It\u2019s not always in the window, but it\u2019s what people buy. You always find good trousers, good sweaters, good jackets,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cWe\u2019re too focused on a good garment, that the fit is good, the sizes are good, the delivery is good, that it\u2019s selling. It\u2019s a very honest way of working.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDebo, director and chief curator of MoMu, said the new exhibition was organized primarily \u201cto celebrate their work, their impact, their legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe could have waited until the 50th anniversary, but for us as a museum, it was important to do an authorized show, because we needed their archives. We needed their stories, so we wanted their collaboration, and we needed their approval to do the show,\u201d she told WWD. \u201cAlso, the themes linked to this group are very relevant today. It\u2019s about talent development. It\u2019s about the future of independent fashion design.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDebo remarked on the irony that the Antwerp Six, despite their fierce independence and radically different fashion statements, benefited from \u201ca kind of uber branding, though nobody ever invested $1 in it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThey also shared a burning ambition to make it big on the global fashion stage via compelling, original designs and storytelling.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA \u201cfox\u201d stole by Dirk Van Saene on display in Antwerp.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDominique Maitre\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cVery early on, they understood that fashion is more than making clothes. It\u2019s an entire creative world,\u201d Debo said. \u201cIt has to do with how you communicate, how you present your clothes in your stores, on the catwalk \u2014 that fashion is a cultural realm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCockx noted that healthy competition between the Six spurred them on to improve their products, presentations and imagery, with Bikkembergs being the first to stage a solo catwalk show.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exhibition allowed the curators to nail down many facts and figures, which might have been lost had they waited. \u201cAs an historian, I realized again how important it is to have documentation \u2014 the press articles, the invitations,\u201d Cockx said.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo wit: The display opens with curved walls plastered with news clippings, photography, text and video, recounting how the Six emerged amid a unique economic, social, cultural and fashion context.<\/p>\n

\n\tVisitors learn that the Six not only studied together, but also partied together and crashed Paris Fashion Week, once forging Jean Paul Gaultier show invitations out of yogurt lids.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen each of the Six gets a dedicated room showcasing their work. Bikkembergs opted to broadcast giant photos of his designs on his favorite models, whose bulging quads and biceps underscore his pioneering blend of fashion, sport and sexual provocation. \u201cHe saw football players as the new rock stars,\u201d Cockx commented.<\/p>\n

\n\tVan Beirendonck selected 35 looks from across his long career, and projects his face onto a black-clad figure that\u2019s engaged in conversation with a robot-like stack of monitors.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat about the future? What do you see?\u201d the robot asks.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe best way to predict the future is to create it. So I keep pushing. Future-proofing \u2014 that\u2019s what we have to do,\u201d he responds.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the W&LT (Wild & Lethal Trash)\u00a0spectacles broadcast on the monitors was his unforgettable spring 1998 show in Paris, which featured shrouded, alien-like models on stilts and ballroom dancers in acid-green gas masks.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFashions by Walter Van Beirendonck<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDominique Maitre\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tBut even when Van Beirendonck lost his once-powerful backer, the German jeans giant Mustang, he carried on, snapping up old curtain fabrics from a store that went bust on Antwerp\u2019s Nationalestraat, and whipping up a characteristically zany, colorful and positive collection. According to Burloot, the message is: \u201cNever give up. That\u2019s also very Belgian.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVan Saene reprised one of his lo-fi conveyor belt fashion shows, a quartet of mannequins whirling around two bicycle-rim gears in front of an audience of mannequins also dressed in his couture-esque designs, their faces hand-painted into leering or impassive expressions.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Cockx, the installation can be read as a wry commentary on \u201cthe fact that the audience is becoming almost more important and getting more attention \u2014 who is front row, who is second row \u2014 than what is actually shown on the catwalk today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVan Noten selected about a dozen looks, arranging them against a vast video wall broadcasting the finales of his fashion shows, which were typically spectacular. Tucked in a niche behind one wall is a selection of his accessories, displayed in the same \u201ccuriosity cabinet\u201d format as in the brand\u2019s boutiques.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSoccer and other athletic pursuits were key for Dirk Bikkembergs.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDominique Maitre\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFor all of them, you feel one signature, and you feel their creative world,\u201d Debo commented. \u201cIt\u2019s very consistent, but very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tYee, the most obscure of the Six but an inspiration to all in the group, was known as a \u201cqueen of collage,\u201d a masterful illustrator, and someone who \u201chesitated between fashion and art,\u201d according to Burloot.<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore her passing, she and Burloot settled on displaying a representation of her cluttered work space, a jumble of carefully curated objects, sketches and phrases. \u201cIt represents so much the creativity of Marina,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tDemeulemeester\u2019s display \u2014 30 mannequins dressed in black and dramatically lit by spotlights \u2014 packs an emotional wallop and brings an immediate lump to the throat, her clothes telegraphing an elegance, poetry, restraint and dignity that is uniquely hers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHow much you can do with one color!\u201d Cockx exclaimed.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFashions by Ann Demeulemeester<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDominique Maitre\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked about her impressions of the exhibition and the designs of the other five, Demeulemeester replied: \u201cI can say I recognize everybody in his work, and people don\u2019t change\u2026 In school, they were already what they are today \u2014 the seed of what they have become was already there. One evolves, but yeah, the personal taste, the personal look, stays.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tVan Noten echoed her sentiment, stressing that \u201cAntwerp fashion was never about a single, defined style.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt would be impossible to replicate what happened back then. The success came from a unique combination of circumstances, the right timing, and the right energy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were a group of ambitious young people determined to make something happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Van Beirendonck, the Antwerp Six emerged \u201cspontaneously from a na\u00efve ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur enthusiasm was real. No marketing. No commercial strategy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was pure love for what we call fashion \u2014 and for something that goes far beyond designing clothes alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIndeed, their indelible signatures carry over into the penultimate room of the exhibition, which displays show invitations: Demeuleemster\u2019s moody and flecked with shadows and feather motifs; Van Saene\u2019s pieced together like some ransom note, reflecting the tongue-in-cheek humor he poured into his clothes.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe exhibition does not delve into many business particulars, though all of the Antwerp Six have seen highs and lows.<\/p>\n

\n\tDries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and Walter Van Beirendonck remain pillars of Paris Fashion Week, though Van Noten stepped down in 2024, passing the design reins to Julian Klausner, and Ann Demeulemeester is now designed by Italian designer Stefano Gallici. (She hung up her scissors in 2013 and devotes herself mainly to homewares with Belgian firm Serax.)<\/p>\n

\n\tDirk Bikkembergs continues to show seasonal collections at its Milan showroom, though the founder left his company in 2011, and successive creative directors have carried on his work. Next month, the company celebrates the 30th anniversary of his iconic soccer shoe.<\/p>\n

\n\tYee and Van Saene quickly veered toward art and other creative pursuits beyond fashion, though Yee recently returned to making clothes.<\/p>\n

\n\tAbout five years ago, she met serial Belgian fashion entrepreneur Rafael Adriaensens, who offered to take care of production and distribution, leaving her free to create, according to Burloot.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe drama is that now her career took off. It\u2019s successful, but it continues,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd she left so much, tons of drawings, that Raf says there is enough inspiration for the coming five years at least.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Inside<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFashions by Marina Yee in a recreation of her creative studio.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDominique Maitre\/WWD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That someone anointed a clutch of emerging Belgian designers The Antwerp Six was something of a fluke \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[278740,7768,449,458,459,64,63,460,115371,134,15940,278741],"class_list":{"0":"post-566464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-ann-demeulemeester","9":"tag-antwerp","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-arts-and-design","12":"tag-artsanddesign","13":"tag-au","14":"tag-australia","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-dries-van-noten","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-exhibition","19":"tag-walter-van-beirendonck"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}