Review: Walter Van Beirendonck Spring/Summer 2023 Collection
If there was ever a collection you come to Paris for, it's Walter Van Beirendonck. He's not one of the major fashion labels name-dropped in every rap song, but there's a fashion student spirit within each presentation where passion and creativity trump wearability. It's Avant-garde, a degree above prêt-à-porter, wearable art (if you're daring enough), and everything that fits the fantasy of Parisian fashion.
This Spring/Summer 2023 Walter Van Beirendonck showcase is his first since announcing his retirement as the Artistic Coordinator of Fashion Training at his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. But, with no signs of quitting designing, Van Beirendonck (65) ditched the traditional show venue to present his latest offerings at the Théâtre de la Madeleine.
Capes and full-length robes concealed the identity of each model in part one of the show. As each model made their reveal, outerwear with sleeves that opened button snaps along the sleeves from wrist to shoulder exposed shirting with exaggerated pleated sleeves stormed the runway. Timeless black suiting also got the pleated detail treatment on pants, and blazers in white and black had cut-outs that created skull-like faces on the back. In Part two, more wearable --for Walter Van Beirendonck-- emoji-inspired prints and vivid hues of pink, orange, and green decorated blazers and Mucha Lucha-Esque body suits.
It was a fun collection with pieces that have the potential to appeal to a vast market of clients. We hope to see the button-down shirting with the scarf-like attachments creating their wind on the streets of New York and Paris. And hopefully, rapper Dreezy (who sat in front of me at the show) will step out in one of the sinched Walter Van Beirendonck gold trench coats that opened the show.
Image Courtesy: Walter Van Beirendonck
