We know him as the most extravagant designer among ‘The Antwerp Six’ with his colourful and shocking collections, and as director of the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Yes, we are talking about Walter Van Beirendonck. At the moment the Antwerp fashion museum Momu presents an exhibition around Walter’s inspiring work.

The exhibition shows an impressive selection from Walter Van Beirendonck’s archive, building on the work of almost 3 decades. Bringing together an explosion of colour in an all white room, thus giving insight in the work of Walter Van Beirendonck.

A lot of attention goes to Walter’s sources of inspiration and his way of working, he especially takes inspiration from ethnography, arts and toys. This is shown on a 60 metres long wall filled with visual information Walter uses to design his collections

The exhibition is divided in six subjects that kept coming back in every collection of him. A general finding is that Walter is indeed trying to ‘dream the world awake’ in his collections, giving attention to societal themes like ecology, sexuality, gender, HIV and mass consumption.

© I Love Belgium

© Photography: Ronald Stoops