Mirror / Ghosts Whisper Loud – Walter van Beirendock

activism / s/s 2021

Since the early 80s, Walter Van Beirendonck’s has been spreading love and confusion with his primal urgency to live, create and liberate. Where some of his earlier collections seemed to be created to invite his audience into the creative fantastic to offer an alternative to the mundane, Walter van Beirendonck's latest collections have the designer stepping into the world and acting up. The new Spring / Summer 2021 collection is both beautifully eerie and hopeful.

About the collection Walter van Beirendonck says: "I designed and tailored pieces that serve as protection from evil forces, symbolize the oneness of humankind and represent a reawakening of beauty. The ghost-like figures on paintings by Swiss artist Miriam Cahn inspired my color and print-palettes. Mirrors in different shapes and sizes bolster up silhouettes. Slogans remind you of the steps needed. In each other we see ourselves. By learning from history, we avoid future disaster. We can be Heroes."

As last year's fashion shows were shut down the designer opted for a new approach to presenting his latest work: "For these social-distancing times, in which we can only present new work digitally, I got inspired by the resourcefulness of the French couturiers of the 1940s. Immediately after WWII had ended, there was a lack of means to stage expensive shows in front of an audience. As a solution to that problem as well as the fabric scarcity, it was decided to present all designs on miniature mannequins that traveled the world in 1945, called the ‘Theatre de la Mode’."

Shop: Walter van Beirendonck