Once again this season, fashion’s Belgian bad boy Walter Van Beirendonck agreed to take us behind the scenes of his Paris show via the grainy snaps of an Instax camera. As models wowed audiences with warped animal beaks, sci-fi specs and horror show prints, it seems backstage was an electric frenzy of make up, inspiration pinned to walls, and Van Beirendonck himself overseeing it all.
In the spring/summer Outsider’s issue of Dazed, the designer told us how he felt “the issues raised by my collections are stronger than myself” – and his SS15 collection was no exception. A call to arms to protect the native tribes of the world became an overarching celebration of the individual. Themes of battle and war in machine gun prints, karate belts and military prints fought against kimono cut tapestry jackets and the optical illusion graphics that have become a Van Beirendonck signature. A dose of the spectacular and surreal came from long term collaborator, make up artist Inge Grognard, whose war painted faces merged into those looming beaks.
Witness the backstage magic for yourself in Van Beirendonck’s Instax diary, and read our guide to the show here.
