LABEL MATES

The first major exhibition dedicated to the Antwerp Six, the designers who redefined Belgian fashion in the 1980s, is about to open at MoMu

- SIMON CHILVERS

'It wasn't like a pop group coming together and singing the same song. All six of them had different solo careers in mind,' notes Geert Bruloot, one of three curators working on a new exhibition, opening at MoMu in Antwerp at the end of March, which will celebrate 40 years of the sextet of Belgian designers known as the Antwerp Six.

Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene and Marina Yee all trained at the fashion department of Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in the early 1980s. Their differing approaches, aesthetics and career paths, as well their unique legacy as a group contextualised within a broader fashion history framework, makes for a fascinating, complicated and ultimately visually arresting tale.

It's a narrative that MoMu's director Kaat Debo (and fellow curator alongside Romy Cockx) had wanted to unravel at the museum for some time; the Six and Martin Margiela, who graduated from the Royal Academy around the same time, put Belgian fashion on the international map.

Debo says she is particularly grateful that all six designers gave the exhibition proposal their blessing while agreeing to in-depth interviews and offering access to their individual archives. Visitors can expect to see around 80 silhouettes in the show, alongside personal objects, sketches, ephemera and video; each designer has been involved in the way their own work will be presented. It is a major milestone: in the four decades since the group was given the Antwerp Six moniker, this is the first major survey of their work collectively.