Antwerp Six

The term was formed as a concept uniting graduates of Linda Loppa's class at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. The term "Antwerp Six" refers to the graduates of 1980 - 1981[4], who became participants in London Fashion Week and the heroes of a British publication in 1986[5].

The name "Antwerp Six" appeared as a journalistic term. The name arose in 1986 after London Fashion Week, which was attended for the first time by six graduates of the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts[6].

The fashion collective presented a distinct, radical vision for fashion during the 1980s that established Antwerp as a notable location for fashion design. The breakthrough occurred in 1986 as the group rented a truck and set out for the London Fashion Week with their collections.

In the early 1980s, members of the association studied at the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, which was founded in the 1960s and was headed by Marie Priyo. As a strict conservative dean, she was guided by the classic Parisian style. Another influential Academy teacher, Linda Loppa (later to succeed Priyo as dean), encouraged student interest in the European avant-garde and the work of Japanese designers Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto[7].

Designers gradually graduated from the academy one after another: Walter van Beirendonck in 1980, Marina Yi, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries van Noten and Dirk van Saen in 1981, and Dirk Bikkembergs in 1982[7]. In 1983, they all participated in the “Golden Spindle” (Gouden Spoel) design competition: Dirk van Saen won the victory[8]. In 1986, at the urging of shoe store owner Coccodrillo and close friend of Antwerp Six Geert Brülot, the designers applied to take part in London Fashion Week. Unknown Belgian fashion designers were supposed to present their collections in the showroom. The organizers placed their stand on the second floor, where the press and buyers usually did not reach. The members of the “six” managed to attract attention to themselves with the help of advertising leaflets, which they distributed to visitors on the ground floor. Buyers from the legendary New York store Barneys were among the first to order from the Belgians, and press representatives who came to the event wrote about the designers.

After their success in London, the Antwerp Six were invited to take part in the Florence fashion exhibition Pitti Trend. Due to lack of finances, the designers had to rent two trailers, where they loaded their things, and travel to Italy through the Alps.

After two seasons of showing together, Antwerp Six began to fall apart. Dirk Bikkembergs worked with men's suits, so he began to show collections exclusively as part of Men's Fashion Week. Dries Van Noten was such a success that he needed his own show[9].

Representatives of the “Antwerp Six” are graduates of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, who graduated from the academy in 1980-1981 and took part in London Fashion Week in 1986[10][11]. Despite stylistic differences, the Antwerp Six were an ideologically coherent group[12]. The name "Antwerp Six" arose as an artificial term formed in the media[13]. A 1986 publication named 6 names that are commonly identified as the “Antwerp Six.”[14]

When talking about the Antwerp Six, the name of another Belgian designer is often mentioned: Martin Margiela[15][16]. Martin Margiela, was not actually part of the group that showed in London, although he is often mistakenly described as one of the Antwerp Six because he also emerged from the Antwerp scene immediately before the "Antwerp six" came to being. He subsequently moved to Paris, initially working for Jean Paul Gaultier and then opening his own label. Margiela communicated closely with all members of the group and studied with them at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Margiela graduated from the Royal Academy in 1979. Formally, he was not part of the group, but used similar techniques and principles. In 1984, Margiela began collaborating with the atelier of Jean-Paul Gaultier and worked for the designer for three years. Margiela, like the members of the Antwerp Six, made a huge contribution to the development of the Belgian school of fashion[17][18] and brought fame to the Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts. He became one of the most famous and successful graduates of the Academy. The term “Antwerp Six+” is sometimes used in the media and in research projects[19], which implies that not only Martin Margiela belongs to the “Antwerp Six” circle, but also several other Belgian designers - such as Raf Simons, Haider Ackermann, Kris Van Assche.

One of the problems associated with identifying the Antwerp Six is the issue of stylistic unity[20][21]. The Antwerp Six used a variety of structural and visual techniques, from deconstructivist principles of complex tailoring to minimalist outlines and complex colors[22]. The concept of stylistic community is often replaced by the principle of ideological unity associated with the basic principles of costume of the 1980s - 1990s, in particular with forms of deconstruction[23][24].

The activities of the Antwerp Six are closely related to the development of deconstructivism in fashion[25][26]. The emergence of fashion deconstruction as a method chronologically coincided with the beginning of the activities of the Antwerp Six[27]. Despite the absence of a single stylistic principle, the collections of the Antwerp Six representatives are structurally close to the principles of deconstruction[28]. The work of the Antwerp Six is considered to be one of the most striking examples of deconstruction in fashion. Art critic Ekaterina Vasileva notes: “The list of deconstruction designers is often correlated with the circle of Belgian designers - the graduating class of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1980 (“Antwerp Six”), adding to this list Martin Margiela, who graduated from the same educational institution a year earlier.”[29]

The Antwerp Six had a significant influence on fashion in subsequent decades[30][31]. The clothing designs identified by the Antwerp Six were used as the basis for fashion deconstruction[32]. In many ways, the appearance of modern costume and its elements was formed both under the influence of deconstructivism in fashion, and as a result of the ideological influence of the “Antwerp Six”[33][34].

The Antwerp Six phenomenon made possible the careers of other Belgian designers - such as Raf Simons, Haider Ackermann, Kris Van Assche, Veronique Branquinho, Bernhard Willhelm, Olivier Theyskens and others.

• Deconstruction (fashion)
• 1980s in fashion
• 1990s in fashion

• Antwerp Fashion 6+. Brussels: Ludion, 2007. — 224 p.
• Granata F. Deconstruction and the Grotesque: Martin Margiela / Experimental Fashion: Performance Art, Carnival and the Grotesque Body. London — New York, I.B.Tauris: 2017. p. 74 — 102.
• Vasileva E.V. (2018) Deconstruction and Fashion: Order and Disorder // Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture, no. 4 (50), pp. 58–79.

• Fashion in Antwerp from the Antwerp tourism office
• A Rare Reunion for the ‘Antwerp Six’- NYT JUNE 17, 2013