In 2026 MoMu celebrates for the first time the 40th Anniversary of The Antwerp Six with a flabbergasting exhibition, which highlights the beginning of each and every member of it solo carriers, as well as it projects The Six group’s trajectory! The exhibition was opened on the 28th of March 2026 and will last until the 17tn of January 2027! This is the longest expo ever!
Cover picture : © MoMu
To understand the phenomena of The Six’ success story one has to understand what happened in Antwerp in the 60s and the 80s and what made The Six as we all know them!
It was a “Flower Power” times in Amsterdam with its PROVO movement and it had direct effects on Antwerp as well with its protests, anti-elitists art happenings and anti-government protests against the consumerism as well as showcases of sex freedom and the freedom of expressions, art and pop-culture! In this atmosphere The Six were brought up!
© photo Yelena van Kharitonova
In the 60s the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts was established and became a dividing ground between the elite young students and the avant-guarde ones, which created competitions among them! The elite traditional style of the first category was inspired by Parisian Styles of Coco Chanel! And it will take about 20 years to change this! Thanks to The Antwerp Six and theirs sagas! One thing was for sure: all of them (also their colleague Martin Margiela, who added to the The Six+1, because he didn’t join them to go to London, but went to Paris immediately instead to be an assistant of Jean-Paul Gauttier there)!
© MoMu
The Six had participated in the Young Fashion Talent and Golden Spindle Awards! But then they went to London in 1986 and changed the history of their lives and the Belgian Fashion as we know it! London was the Punk Capital of Europe at that time and Vivien Westwood was setting the tone in the wider fashion world! The Antwerp Six got a financial support from some Belgian companies from the industry, packed a bus/car with theirs clothes, went London and made the history! That’s where they got the name of “The Antwerp Six”, since it was very challenging for the international community to pronounce the names of Dries van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Bikkenbergs, Walter Van Bierendonck, Dirk Van Sanne and Marina Yee! This Six became the international reference of the Belgian fashion for the last 40 years!
© photo Yelena van Kharitonova
The Royal Academy was the starting point, which brought these creative minds with different backgrounds coming from different situations together and made them cultivate cultural medium of their times, rather than consumption-dominated business model!
© photo Yelena van Kharitonova
All of them became successful solo designers and all together they set Antwerp on the world fashion map, which they still do passing the torch to the new generation of young talents! One of them is a current Artistic Director and a former student of the Academy: Brandon Wen, who followed Walter Van Bierendonk recently! And he is one of the masterminds of a small exhibition at MoMu nowadays as well, showing and dedicating it to The Academy’s students cutting techniques as its cultural heritage! I believe in this new generation! They have a solid foundation to be proud of and to continue the journeys for the future to come! Hallelujah!
The Antwerp Six tickets available here
Discovering CAECA (Central-Asian European Creative Alliance)
