Ensemble
The Revolution collection marked a transition in Walter Van Beirendonck's career after his years designing for Mustang, a German denim company, where he presented club- and streetwear inspired looks. He evolved, or rather, returned, to a more tailored, construction-based approach, which took a historical period as its starting point: the dandiacal and aristocratic subculture of Les Incroyables in post-revolutionary France, whom he described as the first punks. Les Incroyables' outlandish fashions consisting of exaggerated frock coats with oversized collars and cropped hair, ridiculed the new establishment's sobriety. Van Beirendonck made his Revolution silhouettes from floral curtains and nursery room fabrics, giving his own signature transgressive twist to the foppery of Les Incroyables. Subversive and beautifully crafted, this collection introduced a new direction defined by tailoring, craftsmanship and dandyism in Van Beirendonck's oeuvre.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ensemble
- Designer: Walter Van Beirendonck (Belgian, born 1957)
- Date: fall/winter 2000–1
- Culture: Belgian
- Medium: (a) wool, synthetic fiber, (b) cotton, plastic, (c) cotton, (d) leather, metal, (e, f) leather, (g, h) metal, (i) plastic, wool
- Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of The Costume Institute Gifts, 2020
- Object Number: 2020.43a–i
- Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute
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