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BELGIAN FASHION DESIGN
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CRAFT ( t r a d i t i o n ) |
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| WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK: "At one time I used the slogan 'fuck the past is the future' , but I quickly gave it up, because I found that people tended to misinterpret it. I'm the sort of person who has a great respect for the past. Whatever exists today came into being in the past. That is why I find craftsmanship very important. 'Fuck the past' only means that I don't find it interesting to move back into the past. "At the moment craft is enormously 'in' . But it's used all the time, appropriate or not. It's a sign that we've taken the industrialisation of our environment too far. We've taken all the character out of it." | ||||||||||||||||||
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HISTORY ( c o s t u m e s ) |
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WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK: "In
our second year at the academy we used historical costumes as the basis
for designing our collections. In the third year we used ethnic costumes.
Costumes make an ideal starting point. But a costume is closely tied to
the spirit of an age, a particular moment, and only functions optimally
within that time frame. Something from 1800 can no longer function properly
today. The challenge is to bring these historical elements up to date. It's a fascinating business. I do it all the time, although it doesn't happen just like that. I see students sometimes appropriate elements from costumes literally. A good design goes further than that. It provides a logical translation to the present day. But of course it is still the main source of inspiration for most fashion designers, including me, although that may not always be obvious ..." |
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| CODES ( s o c i a l ) |
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| WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK: "On the one hand I find codes are very fascinating, but when they're used simply to create an image then the whole thing becomes a nonsense. By using them very freely, I have deliberately given a whole lot of social codes a twist. Sometimes I then get comments from people from various backgrounds that they find it inappropriate that I have taken liberties with their codes in this way. But I hate ghettos." |
