How the Media Invented the Antwerp Six: A 40-Year Legacy
Forty years ago, six young Belgian designers piled into a rented van and drove to London with little more than ambition and a trunk full of radical garments. They returned as the “Antwerp Six” — a name they never chose, a group they never intended to form, and a label that would transform Antwerp into a global fashion capital. As the Fashion Festival Antwerp 2026 prepares to open from June 4–7, the city is taking a critical look at how the media created one of fashion’s most enduring myths.
The Accidental Collective
The six designers — Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, and Marina Yee — all trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (RAoFA) under Mary Prijot between 1980 and 1981. They were friends, not collaborators. They never created collections together or operated as a single brand. Yet the international press, struggling with Flemish names, bundled them under a single catchy banner.
“Belgium was a fashion no-man’s land at that time,” recalls Geert Bruloot, the Antwerp fashion entrepreneur who orchestrated their London debut. “The Belgian textile industry was in crisis, and our country had no fashion identity of its own.”
The Breakthrough: 1986 in London
In 1986, Bruloot convinced the six designers to present at the British Designer Show during London Fashion Week. To save money, they rented a van and drove to the British capital together. Upon arrival, they were relegated to the third floor — wedged between wedding dresses and kinky latex, far from the main action.
Marina Yee, known for her collage work, improvised flyers that the group distributed downstairs. The first day passed in near silence. Then came the breakthrough. “On the second day, Barney’s New York suddenly arrived,” Bruloot told Man About Town. “An hour later, it was filled with press, cameras were everywhere: ‘Where do you come from? You look like you’re from another planet, we’ve never heard of you! It’s fantastic!’”
Sonja Noël, founder of the Stijl clothing store and a witness to that moment, recalled: “I was a bit overwhelmed seeing their collections, because it was the complete opposite of everything that was fashionable at that time.”
A Media Invention That Outlived Its Creators
The name “Antwerp Six” was coined by English-speaking journalists who found the designers’ Flemish names difficult to pronounce and remember. But the label stuck — and took on a life of its own.
“It was the situation that created this name and this fame,” Bruloot explains. “And it only lasted for three years until the moment that we were thrown out of London. Then they started to go on their own, little by little.”
After showing together in London five times, the designers went to Paris as individuals. “That’s actually where the Six stops,” Bruloot notes. Yet the myth persisted. “The thing is, after this period in London up to today, none of us have done anything to feed this myth of the Antwerp Six. It has continued on its own and has only grown.”
Where Are They Now?
The individual trajectories of the Six tell a story of remarkable diversity. Dries Van Noten retired in 2024, leaving his eponymous brand in robust health. Walter Van Beirendonck served as creative director of RAoFA’s fashion department from 2007 to 2022, succeeded by Brandon Wen. Ann Demeulemeester left her label in 2013 but returned in 2021 to create the house’s first perfume. Dirk Bikkembergs withdrew from fashion in the early 2010s. Dirk Van Saene remains outside the fashion system, focusing on painting and ceramics. Marina Yee passed away in 2025 from pancreatic cancer; her partner Rafaël Adriaenssen continues her work.
Celebrating 40 Years: The MoMu Exhibition
From March 28, 2026 through January 17, 2027, MoMu — the Fashion Museum Antwerp — is hosting “The Antwerp Six,” the first major institutional exhibition dedicated to the group. Curated by Geert Bruloot alongside MoMu curators Romy Cockx and Kaat Debo, the exhibition features an illustrated catalogue of nearly 400 pages with contributions from Tim Blanks, Angelo Flaccavento, and Eugene Rabkin.
“The Antwerp Six helped shape recent fashion history,” says Kaat Debo, MoMu Director. “We are immensely proud that we can bring the work of these six iconic designers together for a unique, in-depth view of their legacy and their influence.” Debo adds: “Today, the concept of the ‘Antwerp Six’ has almost mythical status.”
The Fashion Festival Antwerp 2026
Running from June 4–7, the Fashion Festival Antwerp 2026 will celebrate the city’s fashion heritage with a program that looks both backward and forward. The festival arrives at a moment of reflection for Antwerp’s fashion scene — a time to honor the legacy of the Six while asking what comes next.
Legacy and Implications
The Antwerp Six story raises fascinating questions about how media narratives shape cultural phenomena. A label created for convenience became a brand that defined a city’s fashion identity for four decades. The designers’ anti-fashion aesthetic — deconstruction, asymmetry, androgyny — challenged the glamorous, colorful dominance of French and Italian houses and paved the way for subsequent waves of Belgian designers including Raf Simons, A.F. Vandevorst, and Jurgi Persoons.
As Brian Rojas Cuadros, a former RAoFA student, observes: “Van Noten, Walter and Margiela [often called the 7th member] are at the origin of the anti-fashion movement that went against the aesthetic of the industry of their time.”
What to Watch For
As the Fashion Festival and MoMu exhibition draw visitors to Antwerp, the question lingers: Can the city maintain its fashion prominence beyond the legacy of the Six? With a new generation of designers emerging from RAoFA under Brandon Wen’s leadership, and with growing conversations around sustainability and digital fashion, Antwerp’s fashion future may yet write its own chapter — one that honors the myth without being defined by it.
The Fashion Festival Antwerp 2026 runs from June 4–7. “The Antwerp Six” exhibition at MoMu is open from March 28, 2026 through January 17, 2027.