The Royal Academy of Fine Arts and its fashion department certainly are no strangers to the limelight. After all, the Antwerp based school is where renowned designers like Dries Van Noten, Martin Margiela, and Walter Van Beirendonck (who also is the school’s current head of the fashion department) for the first time focused on design and getting a fashion education. In recent months however, this attention has shifted – from focusing on creativity to how this creativity is fostered in the first place. On the 26th of April The Business of Fashion published an article addressing a recent suicide by one of the school’s third-year students, linked to unbearable pressure. While the industry’s discussion about fashion education and mental health quickly looked beyond the walls of the Academy, Antwerp did stay its origin.
Last weekend, the small Belgian city again attracted attention, as this year’s nine MA graduates presented their finished collections. And with clothes as a means to speak their minds, this year’s graduates all went to rather personal places to fuel their final projects. With an immediate environment and industry at large so marked by upheaval, creativity again becomes one of the strongest forces of expressing one’s inner thinking. We got talking to four of this year’s graduates from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts about their studies, stylistic approaches, and thoughts on the fashion system.
Federica Di Leo
What was the starting point of your collection?
The theme of the collection is Rita Atria, which is a girl from Sicily, and she committed suicide when she was 17. I’m from Sicily, Palermo, and last summer I heard her story and started researching about her, because not many people talk about her in Palermo even though she is such an important figure. She came from a mafia-family and started fighting the system and participated in the biggest anti-mafia trial that ever took place in Italy. She knew the inside story, so she could help judges put people in jail.
Where do you see yourself heading after uni?
I’m working on improving my portfolio right now, and after uni I then want to apply for a designer job – I want to get my hands dirty. Create things. One brand I really like is Undercover by John Takahashi, I’ve been following him from the beginning.
When looking at the industry you are about to go into, what change would you like to see?
During the last years everything has become about social media, creating buzz through Instagram and Snapchat – and I really don’t like this development. I think this is one of those things that will reach a peak and then suddenly drop. I don’t like that you just scroll through everything so quickly on your phone and don’t really take the time to look at a picture, to look into the garment. I would like people to get back to going into the shop and touching the things instead of just using Instagram for everything… this bothers me.
After the recent news that have come out of the Antwerp Academy, is there anything you would like to address in relation to your experiences at the school?
I think what the media didn’t really take into consideration as much is that some of the people here actually lost a friend. They just used this story to say other things. If they really want to write about our uni, they should come here and see everything with their own eyes, and talk to people from both sides of the story, not just ones that only have been here for a few months. A lot of the students were in such an emotionally delicate state that they weren’t even able to give interviews. I was quite angry when this article came out, because I for example had a great experience.
Gennaro Genni Velotti
How would you describe your studies at the Antwerp Academy?
The Academy so far has been nothing but good to me, especially when coming from a previous bachelor in “design for the fashion system” which was only focused on the final product and the technical part of the fashion world. Antwerp opens your eyes, it’s surprising how much you change as a creative person but also as a human being!
Was finding the fitting theme and reference points for your graduate collection a no-brainer or challenging?
Every collection is challenging, you get the opportunity to showcase your work side by side to the best students, coming from all over the world. I find this very exciting, because wanting to find something that somehow could leave a mark has always pushed me forward. Personally, for me there isn’t an actual theme or reference, it’s more about telling a story, something that makes sense to me first of all!
Why was working on the collection in a particularly personal way especially important to you? Did this approach make it easier or harder?
Having such a personal approach makes the whole collection richer, it makes you feel stronger in order to express your creativity in the best way. On the other hand, using something really personal also puts you in an uncomfortable position, because you become fragile by exposing your personal thoughts to everyone.
When looking at the industry you are about to go into, what change would you like to see?
It might sound like a cliché but I do think it’s time to slow down everything, and spend more time teaching the value of craftsmanship to the next generations. It’s necessary to slow down the whole consumption process, this kind of disposable fashion system just isn’t sustainable!
Kjell De Meersman
How would you describe your studies at the Antwerp Academy?
My studies at the Academy were successful in a way that over the past years I really got to know myself as a creative individual and as a business man. I learnt to not only translate my vision on paper and into reality, but also how to communicate and seal a good deal.
Was finding the fitting theme and reference points for your graduate collection a no-brainer or challenging?
Whenever I create a collection or design a product it feels like an extremely natural and comforting process in the earliest stage. Inspiration is everywhere I look and everywhere I go. I tend to get inspired by my social circle, the people I meet and the memories I have with the people I love the most. I watch many movies and documentaries. I like to see a story when I design a collection. It’s almost like directing a movie that will be presented on a runway.
What would you like people to take away from your collection?
I wanted to show the importance of the influence my mother had on me when I was growing up, so I decided to take this as inspiration when I started building the story of my master collection. Today I see a lot of women around me that I truly adore. Hearing their personal experiences with dressing and fashion made me want to design a womenswear collection for the very first time. One thing I noticed was that many women don’t dress the way they truly would like to, and this honestly made me angry. In many situations I think that when you are not angry, you are not paying attention. So I took this feeling seriously and decided to explore femininity and how society looks at it. In this collection I provide women (and men) with body conscious clothing that shows the beauty of the body. Can we all dress for pleasure and power please?
When looking at the industry you are about to go into, how would you sum it up?
Too much, too cheap, too fast.
Stefan Kartchev
Was finding the fitting theme and reference points for your graduate collection a no-brainer or challenging?
I do not think that finding the theme was challenging, no. It came rather spontaneously and naturally but the challenging part was how to express it and create something out of it without making it obvious. Dealing with multiple sources and mixing them together without it becoming a mess but a rather balanced result, that was the challenge. But this is also my favourite part of the design process.
Why was working on the collection in a particularly personal way especially important to you? Did this approach make it easier or harder?
I think that looking back at your origins or places you have lived and how you have lived are important for your own growth. Good and bad memories both shape us as characters. But working with something personal also makes it harder because you really want to embed your own voice into it, so it somehow becomes a reflection of yourself. Of course, you want the message you are giving to be understood the right way.
What would you like people to take away from your message?
I want people to see depth in the work. To have the need to come back and look at the clothes again, and maybe change the way they see it. With a bit of patience you should be able to see the process of thoughts and the different references combined. Actually I prefer to leave people pondering the work on their own, which makes it interesting to me as well.
Where do you see yourself heading after uni?
First taking a good rest, eating well and doing all these things I missed the past months. Find a good team to work with. Explore different artistic and other fields. I think the most important for me is to really keep on being busy creatively, exchanging and sharing knowledge. Getting involved with sportswear and combining it with a more aesthetic view also intrigues me very much.
When looking at the industry you are about to go into, what change would you like to see?
The exploitation of people is a problem which luckily is slowly changing I think. Working and producing locally and giving the right credit and recognition to the team you are working with also is important to me. Respecting humans for the effort and work they do is substantial. Synergy between creatives!
Photography MICHELLE MARSHALL
