Part of the legendary 1980 graduating class of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Arts known as “The Antwerp Six,” Walter Van Beirendonck has built his design career on revolutionizing menswear by blurring gender stereotypes and promoting individuality and expressive freedom. From his illustrious politically-charged runways to his colorful ready-to-wear Walter has cemented himself as one of the most unique and influential menswear designers of the 20th century. Along with designing, Walter is a natural-born teacher. Raf Simons and Craig Green famously interned for him, and Walter is now the head of the fashion department at the Royal Academy. I am honored and very grateful to have had this opportunity to speak with him. Enjoy:)
Hi Walter, I’d like to preface this interview by first thanking you for everything you’ve done for the artistic community and society as a whole. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to speak with you and I appreciate you taking time to answer these questions. Sending my love, Oliver.
Thank you Oliver,very kind of you.Being an independent fashion designer was and is tough,but nevertheless i enjoyed every minute of this rollercoaster ride.
I’d like to begin with probing on your early inspirations in details. I know you were heavily inspired by the prints of comic books, I’d like to know which comic books or comic book artists you gravitated towards? What was your earliest introduction to the BDSM scene and LGBT subculture? do you have memories of particular drag shows/clubs you would frequent?
Sorry to dissapoint you on this: but i’m not a huge big comic book fan,and i’m fascinated by BDSM, but not practicing and despite the fact that i like to watch RuPaul, i am not at all active in the drag shows world
My early inspirations are coming from a different direction.One of my main inspirations are ethnic tribes, their rituals and body culture are extremely fascinating for me.I have hundreds of books regarding this topic, and i love to visit ethnographic museums. My favourite tribes are the tribes from Papoea New Guinea But the whole world inspires me.
This ethnic inspiration i never use in a literal way, it is triggering my fantasy and combined with other inspirations, it is translated in my own language and ideas, a WALTER-language ,very recognizable, which i am proud off.
Next to this is ART, and the work of artists triggering my fantasy. I love to go to museums and visit galleries.One of my favourite artists is Paul McCarthy, He opened up my eyes, and showed that you can do a strong statement, with an extreme content, in a colourful, funny, and cute way.
Meeting him, and being guided by him in his studio in LA was a fantastic experience for me.
Another thing i love, and which is a big inspiration:are Dolls and toys. I am collecting all types of characters ,searching on markets and in second hand shops.Important is, that they all have eyes. How many doesn’t matter, but eyes are very important. My favourites are the japanese Wrestler dolls which i collect during my visits in Japan
Being gay and being part of the LGBT subculture always felt very natural, very normal always felt welcome in this world. Discovering and being part of the bear community, felt really good and right.
As i said, i am fascinated by BDSM,and i have several good friends in that scene, but it is more a fascination for rituals and codes, using garments, accessories, masks to underline a feeling, character or fantasy.It is all about the fantasy,Several collections, also very early ones (but also recent ones)are playing with this codes and inspiration.
When and why did you feel your brand needed a mascot(puk puk) Were there any other brands you were inspired by who used a mascot? I know Puk Puk was inspired by the crocodile man of the Latmul and represents a boy turning into a man and also the protection from evil, but how does this represent you and the ethos of your brand?
In my early collections, my dog SADO, a white bull-terrier was the mascot from my collections. But i did not want to go on (mis-)using him when he died. So i decided to create a new mascotte, which became Puk-Puk.Right,Puk-Puk means crocodile at the Latmul tribes, which i liked a lot. But the starting point to create Puk-Puk,was creating a cute, funny, critical, expressive, loud, wild, bold, cheeky…alter ego, which could say what i could not say,or did not dare to say.His Alien background is another fascination and inspiration i used a lot in my work.
How did you find the bear looking models you used on your runways, did you do street casting or were you linked with special agencies?
Mostly through castings:In London and Paris,but also in Belgium
For the first Wonderlandshow,back in the nineties,i casted a lot of nice men in an early stage and i asked them to grow their beards.At that time the Bear scene was (also for me) just starting up,and social media where not existing.So a bear-look was not that common
For the Wonderbear show in Paris i casted through social media and online,directly in the bear-community,which meanwhile became a huge community
When i brought the Wonderbear show to San Francisco,and showing the collection in Berkeley University,was a celebration for the gay-community in SFGay or straight did not matter,it was all about FREEDOM and the possibility to express yourself in the best way possible.
Due to the omnipresence of homophobia (especially in the past) were you ever concerned about your clothes being stigmatized as being solely for the queer community? To add to that question are you pleased with the direction our society has taken in accepting the LGBT community and men slowly shifting into wearing more feminine cuts and androgynous pieces like skirts?
I am always working spontaneously ,working around FREEDOM of EXPRESSION,and i am not at all referring to ‘only gay’.
My vision and ideas are open-minded,and my clothes are worn by all different ‘gender-types,shapes and minds’It is more about a state of mind,a way of expressing yourself as a free human. So gender-bending was something i am doing, spontaneously since my early collections.
How did the theatrics of your 90s shows such as the infamous 1996 runway come together and what was your inspiration? Do you feel fashion shows should be performance art? Why did you stop presenting your shows like this and would you ever go back?
In the W< period, my backer at that time, Mustang, found out quickly that through my capability to create strong looks, and create strong shows they were generating A LOT of attention from press, buyers and shops. Also for their own Mustang-labelThat’s why they gave me HUGE budgets to create fantastic fashion shows.Which i loved to get together.
This type of shows is only possible with this huge budgets, so when i stepped out of my W< contract, and restarted from scratch, with and became completely independent, i did not had this budgets anymore.
In 1996 you launched the interactive W< CD-Rom which was one of the first computer based customizable ways for people to create clothing. You also were the first designer to livestream a show for your aw98 collection. As a pioneer of using digital technology in fashion, what can you say about its use in present day? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of social media for instance and the use of more artificial fabrics and digital design processes?
My interest in the future, KISS THE FUTURE, combined with interest in a new way of communicating in fashion, and again big budgets,`gave me to possibility to do the CD-roms, live-streaming, website and digital inter active screens in shops, as the first fashion-label.
I loved to work on this. My fantasy got wings, and i literally could ‘fly’ anywhere i wanted.
Social media i love and i hate at the same time, i think that they create a lot of new possibilities, and i can enjoy parts of it.The information part i like, but i still love more to look into a good book.
Social media can also be a ‘cheesy/kitchy’ stupid over-kill, which we do not need at all.
We are bombarded by to much images every day.I’m missing content and emotion on social media.
Probably that can be the next evolution.
In the 90s you said that there are masters and slaves in fashion, and in the “hardbeat” collection you said “careful! If you have another point of view you will suffer”. You were talking about how introducing themes and controversy to fashion will face rejection and prejudice from the audience. 30 years later do you feel the public has become more or less sensitive to in fashion? What aspects of fashion/ideas need to be more accepted/tolerated? -question from Kel of @Horrorvacuo
I explained this BDSM fascination here before, but it is also a kind of humor, playing around with words and meanings.
HARDBEAT was a wordplay on the NEWBEAT music movement in Belgium.And also a wordplay on HEARTBEAT
Masters and Slaves were part of the wordplaying.
I always like to do this.
I think that due to the effort and statements of independent fashion designers, the fashion world opened up, and embraced a lot of daring and controversial topics.You can feel that also in the gender-free evolution, and in more freedom to dress as you like
Besides this evolution, it is sad to say, but there is also again a lot of prejudice and negative reactions by narrow-minded people that is difficult to understand.
Raf Simons famously interned for you in the early 90s however there isn’t much known about his role at your studio. Can you give some examples of what his internship entailed and share some memories of experiences you had together? What are some valuable lessons you taught him and how do you think his time with you affected his future collections? Do you have any pictures of you two together?
I never talk about ex-interns in interviews, it is part of a kind of privacy policy.
But i can tell that when Raf was an intern, he started to discover the fashion world.I took him to Milan and Paris, took him to fashion shows, and in the studio he did research, worked on the collections.Doing tasks that all interns are doing to learn.He stayed for a while, and came back to do more specific things for collection or presentations.
I think i opened his heart and head for fashion!
You have designed clothing for films such as traffic and for bands such as U2. I would like to ask what music/bands you’re currently listening to and what some of your favorite films are?
Right now i’m listening to Tame Impala The Slow Rush,but i love to discover a lot of contemporary music,mostly in the direction of ‘indie’
TR/ST / Robert Alfonsis one of my contemporary favourite bands.I love his songs, voice and attitude.
I still love to buy CD’s ,to see the cover, pictures and read the lyricsVery ‘old school.’
What are your plans for the future? What messages do you feel you still need to convey to the world? I know it’s a redundant topic currently but in regards to the Covid virus, have you thought about creative ways to present your collections or adapt to the possible shift in the industry?
I felt already a long time that this RESET moment, was going to come in fashion
But surprisingly it is a horrible virus which is now responsible for this.
Since my own RESET around 2000,i am working for my collections,in a very ethical and conscious way:i care for the planet ,i produce in Europe I have direct contact shops, buyers, customers and fans. I design everything myself i am independent i am producing what i have sold (no overstocks)i try to avoid everything we don’t need to do
i am an outsider in the fashion world, entering this world when necessary, but also going back in my own creative bulb, which i enjoy the most
So i am ready for this RESET!
Big hug,
Walter
SPECIAL THANKS TO KEL FROM @HORRORVACUO FOR LENDING GARMENTS FOR THE SHOOT. ALSO THANK YOU JACOB @BUZSTOPBOY FOR LENDING HIS PIECES OUT.