Impression of the stand of Ann Demeulemeester at the British Designer Show, London, 1986.
Impression of the stand of Ann Demeulemeester at the British Designer Show, London, 1986. The money the Six earned from commercial jobs went straight into their own colletions: the dream was to establish their own label. The ITCB had helped to create a lot of positive press attention for the group, but a real connection hadn’t been made in the Belgian industry, and the Antwerp Six were seen as eccentric, rather difficult designers, often rejecting the textiles they were given and preferring Italian fabrics. Their orientation was international, as Dirk BIkkembergs states in a 1985 interview: ‘My suitcases are packed and I’m ready to go.’ Nevertheless, in 1986, Dirk Bikkembergs started an avant-garde shoe collection for men, to be sold at Eddy Michiels and Geert Bruloot’s shop, Coccodrillo. His manufacturer needed more than this to agree to the production of these ‘outré’ shoes. So Geert Bruloot, who’d prepared the set designs for the Golden Spindle and had been working with Dries van Noten and Walter van Beirendonck since 1985, had the idea of going to a fashion fair at the Olympia in London, with the goal of selling the shoes to the cooler shops in the UK’s capital. The energy in London’s city streets seemed a better match than Paris. Walter van Beirendonck decided to join in the adventure. Ann stayed in Belgium because she was about to give birth to her son, but she sent along her collection of sunglasses. They all rented a booth on the fourth floor among the bridal wear at the British Designer Show. -- source link