Walter's Monsters

1. Jürgen Teller Believe, 1999
2. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2015

Today, 'arts and crafts' as aesthetic principle and technique (not movement) has a bad reputation. Undeservedly so. One wishes, there was more handcraft without calling it 'couture'. Breaking the human body, the human clothing into bits and pieces before reassembling its most crucial and visually most entertaining parts. Hail Walter.
/HORST

Fashion Charts III

1. Prada Fall/Winter 2014

2. Maison Martin Margiela Fall/Winter 2014

3. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2014

Longing for torso bondage, from Eskimo to psycho. Cozy in fur (Miuccia), recycled in nylon (Martin) and strapped in leather (Walter). An iteration by the queen of fashion, a disappeared icon and resurrected teddy bear. My top three.
/HORST

Paths Towards Modernity III

A fictive documentary in art and fashion.

1. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2014
2. Isa Genzken Bouquet, 2004
3. Isa Genzken Mutter Mit Kind, 2004
4. Isa Genzken Oil (Detail), 2007
5. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2013
6. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2009
7. Isa Genzken MLR, 1992
8. Isa Genzken Schauspieler, 2013
9. Nick Knight Dream The World Awake, 2011
10. W&LT Fall/Winter 2009
11. Isa Genzken Schauspieler, 2013
12. Isa Genzken Installation view, 2012
13. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2012
14. Isa Genzken Fuck The Bauhaus, 2000
15. Walter van Beirendonck The Sequel, 2009
16. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2008
17. Isa Genzken Installation view, 2012
18. Isa Genzken Mona Isa X (Gold), 2010
19. Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2013
20. Isa Genzken Schauspieler, 2013
21. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2009
22. Walter van Beirendonck Landed-Geland Part I, 2001
23. Isa Genzken Ohr, 1980

Cardboard, plastic, mirror, spray-paint, acrylic, metal, textile ribbons, light ropes, mirror foil, colour print on paper, MDF and casters. Materials that constitute the fashion collections and art installations of Walter van Beirendonck and Isa Genzken. Glitter foil and foam structures are their totems of popular culture, stacked on top of each other.

Rather than propelling a material-ist approach of 'readymades', the works function as allegories. The matter's value is absolutely neclected and the singular parts taken out of their original purpose and meaningfulness. By re-combining this 'material', Beirendonck and Genzken create new bodies, structures and machines that are abstract and futurist in form but reminiscent of everyday, well-known ideas and domestic objects.

The end result is a 'transformational cluster' of non-related parts that are forced or molded into a new grouping. Similar to child play or alchemist experiment, both figures follow the human urge to explore the principle of cause and effect. A 'what-happens-if' working mode.
/HORST

The Moan Game

1. Wendelien Daan Dark Lights, Shine Loud, 2013
2. Flint-Fuyt The Belgian Beat, 2013
3. Collier Schorr Fantastic Man 2013

Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2013. A study in male glamour composed of lurex suits, python platforms and spandex turtlenecks. One of the strongest editorial collections that only rarely made it into stores. Why?
/HORST

Trend X-Plorer

Revealing trends that cannot and will not be picked up but should be nonetheless.
Part 1: The Hidden Painting

1. Acne Spring/Summer 2014
2. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2014
3. Raf Simons Spring/Summer 2014

Ignoring the only logic and legal right for its very existence by hiding the allover print from maximum exposure, or deconstructing the artwork into a series of garments, this trend celebrates blatent disregard. Let's call it #IDGAF - the 'I Don't Give A Fuck' phenomenon.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Comic Strip In Popular Culture VIII

1. Walter van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2012
2. Erwin Wurm Fat Car, 2001

The moving comic sculpture. Walter van Beirendonck and Erwin Wurm almost made me cry. Together, they presented walking absurdity during the Spring/Summer 2012 menswear finale. A collection that could easily be entitled 'POW, BOOM, BANG'. Worth shedding a happy tear.
/HORST