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BELGIAN FASHION DESIGN
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 As
a boy at boarding school, Walter Van Beirendonck filled entire sketch books
with his wonderful world of fantasy. When, years later, he discovered the
course in fashion at the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts, he knew that he had
found a channel through which he could express 'his world'. He had the feeling
that fashion was a tolerant form of expression, one that moved with the
times and was permissive about interaction with other disciplines. Such
interactions were to turn up repeatedly in his later work.In 1982, two years after the completion of his studies, Van Beirendonck presented his first collection, Sado, named after his white bull terrier. His use of leather, muzzles and whips immediately caused a good deal of controversy in his own country. In the years that followed he was three times finalist in the Golden Spindle competition. Nonetheless it took till 1987 for him to achieve an international breakthrough. This happened when he presented his Bad Baby Boys collection at the British Designer Show in London. His next collection, Let's Tell a Fairy Tale also attracted the usual attention. The tough image of his broad-shouldered models was undermined by sweaters decorated with teddy bears, pompons, fairy tale characters and red pointed hats. Van Beirendonck has an obvious preference for extreme presentations. The world of SM, violence, aggression, comic strips and trash, was translated and integrated into collections such as King Kong Kooks (summer 1989) and Hardbeat(winter 1989-1990). He even published a comic to accompany the King Kong Kooks collection in which he himself (playing Walter the Warrior) and his dog Sado were the leading characters. The story had a happy ending: the colourful King Kong Kooks triumphed over the Greys. A positive attitude and the usual touch of humour and ability to put things in perspective continue to characterise his collections. Van Beirendonck seems also to need this positive attitude in real life. For while he is quite well known, he still remains an outsider, not easily labelled, in a world where minimalist, conceptual collections are making a furore. Moreover his clothes are highly labour intensive, and turned out to be too expensive for his youthful public. This was why in 1989 he launched a more reasonably priced B-line, Walter Worldwide, under the slogan "leisure for pleasure". A year later the first and only edition of the paper Worldwide News carried the block-letter headline "Fashion is Dead". This was at the same time an invitation to the new summer collection and an indictment of the dominant system of fashion. Not without the usual humour and putting things into perspective, of course! The dog Sado had an interview and a perfume of his own called ExcessMc2, while Van Beirendonck wondered whether he might perhaps be an extraterrestrial being. Crash! Bam! Wallop! The year Is 1991, and Walter creates W&L.T. W&L.T stands for Wild and Lethal Trash, the successor to Walter Worldwide. When the jeans manufacturer Mustang took over the concept in 1992, so bringing to an end any financial worries, there was no stopping him. Puk-Puk, a dear little creature with big teeth, comes down from the planet Dork to support Walter, the Cybergod. Astral Travellers, Couriers of the year 2013 and Avatars come to visit W&L.T-world. There they meet archetypal figures such as knights, flying dragons, Bambi and Heidi. But W&L.T-world is also a world of sex, violence, SM, comics, Internet and techno, The collections have names like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Paradise Pleasure Productions, Killer/Astral Travel/4D-Hi-D and Welcome Little Stranger. "Kiss the Future!" is the message. What seemed to be a superficial, empty slogan from the world of advertising, in W&L.T-world became a powerful message of hope, love and optimism about the future. We see a similar duality in the 4D-Hi-D section of the Spring/Summer 1996 catwalk show at the Paris Lido. Sweet innocent Heidi (Hi-D) is looking for Edelweiss in an Alpine meadow. Her little goat has lights flickering in his wicked eyes, symbolising sexual attraction. Innocence and naivety are shown contrasted with the world of sexuality and even aggression. Archetypes are playfully mixed with the futuristic world of the Internet and cyberspace and the hard, rough world of the tough guy. Ethnic influences and natural elements are interwoven, reflecting a cultural and ecological consciousness. But direct connections are rarely made; there is frequent use of double entendre. For example, in the catwalk show for Paradise Pleasure Productions (Winter 1995-1996), the podium is suddenly populated by dozens of men and women clad entirely in latex. Only the eyes and the mouth are left free. The masks are symbols of the increasing protection needed by mankind against the thinning of the ozone layer and at the same time an indictment of the cult of modelling. The use of latex also symbolises safe sex. But painting over the shiny rubber foundation with tiny flowers and leopard motifs gives the rubber a playful quality, despite its association with SM, allowing Walter to show his true love for flora and fauna. |
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