The famous Antwerp Six refers to a group of fashion designers who graduated from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts between 1980–81. Walter Van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester and Marina Yee were the members of the original Antwerp Six as they became to be known in the press even while the designers were united mostly by origin and common experiences rather than style. Martin Margiela is often mistakenly described as one of the Antwerp Six because he also emerged from the Antwerp scene around the same time. With Walter Van Beirendonck and Dries Van Noten well into their 60s now and still very much vital members of the international fashion community and the other four a bit off the radar, a new group of Antwerp based designers and creatives dominates the fashion world.
The original Antwerp Six: Marina Yee, Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Bikkembergs and Dirk Van Saene. ©Lannoo
Let’s call them the NAG, the New Antwerp Guard made up of designers Raf Simons and Pieter Mulier, stylist Olivier Rizzo, photographer Willy Vanderperre, French man Matthieu Blazy and others. Antwerp even had a major impact on the German fashion design scene when for a moment in the new millennium the designers Dirk Schönberger, Bernhard Willhelm and Stephan Schneider made a name for themselves by working from Antwerp, a port city which can be as seedy and dark as Paris and international and hedonistic as New York on good days with a thriving techno scene.
Before the debut of Blazy at Bottega Veneta in February, we caught up with Raf Simons who explained the new guard to ACHTUNG. He said he discovered Blazy in 2008 when he was a judge in a fashion competition and immediately made Blazy come to work for him in Antwerp. Blazy’s parcours looks somewhat typical for the new Antwerp guard – from Belgium into the wide world. He studied at La Cambre in Brussels and then worked for Simons, followed by posts at Maison Margiela, Céline, Calvin Klein and Bottega Veneta. In the Calvin Klein studio under Simons again, he connected with his right-hand Pieter Mulier who has graduated to be head designer at Alaïa. Simons has always called on the couple of stylist Olivier Rizzo and photographer Willy Vanderperre to shoot the Raf Simons campaigns and Simons and Rizzo are also working together now at Prada. It comes as no surprise that Vanderperre provided the official portrait of the new Bottega Veneta designer Blazy to the press. And on top, Rizzo has become the man behind the scenes at Ann Demeulemeester, which is looking for a new chance in fashion backed by Dreamers Factory and Antonioli Group. These five individuals now shape the voice of what is directional fashion in this decade.
This article first appeared in Achtung Mode Nr. 43
