Van Beirendonck Walter-Believe

The Belgian Walter Van Beirendonck is regarded by many as the designer of the future. With “Kiss the Future” he turned the fashion world upside down: Van Beirendonck has created unconventional, avant-garde fashion for the label W. & L. T. (Wild & Lethal Trash) which he has presented to the public in spectacular shows in Paris, as well as on the internet and on CD- ROMs. The autumn/winter collection for 1998/99 by this fashion designer from Antwerp is inspired by the French artist Orlan, who has turned her own silicon-implanted body into an artwork: as an up- to-date alternative to tattooing or piercing she has sculptures inserted into her temples. This publication, with an in-depth interview with Walter Van Beirendonck and Orlan follows the evolution of his most recent creations from the first sketches and designs right through to their presentation in Paris. An extensive photo-section documents the plastic ‘transformations’ which have inspired the ‘enfant terrible’ of European fashion to a new ideal of beauty.