‘Fashion Balls’ from MoMu and the Antwerp Fashion Department kickstart ‘Fashion 2.021’.
MoMu ‘Fashion Balls’: fashion culture throughout the city
One of the many eye-catching activities MoMu – Antwerp Fashion Museum is celebrating with its ambitious reopening programme ‘Fashion 2.021 Antwerp – Fashion/Conscious’, is a city dressing project in collaboration with the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. The ‘Fashion Balls’ are striking installations that will appear at various locations in Antwerp from 5 August 2021 onwards and together will create a unique walking experience through the city.
The ‘Fashion Balls’ will appear at five outdoor locations in the centre of Antwerp and will travel around this summer. These colourful balls will be installed in different sizes at iconic locations in the city in collaboration with the non-profit organisation Kunstenlab. Anyone who wants to can sit in them and thus create the illusion of being dressed in a giant skirt. A playful invite to take and share a photo, with Antwerp as a unique background. Walter Van Beirendonck, Head of the Fashion Department, came up with the idea and concept for this fashion landmark in the city at the request of MoMu.
Walter Van Beirendonck: “We made it interactive and hope that everyone will be stimulated to take selfies with the city as a backdrop this way. It's a project that's very accessible – that's why we made the ‘Fashion Balls’ in all kinds of sizes. This project will appeal to both international fashion fans and casual passers-by to take part.”
Fashion Balls, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
Fashion Balls, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
Fashion Balls, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
Fashion Balls, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
‘Fashion Balls’ also includes a performance section where the balls will be displayed in one place, the De Gerlachekaai, from 5 August onwards. Students of the Fashion Department designed original outfits to match specific balls, under the guidance of the style teachers and Katarina Van Den Bossche. All the BA students could design proposals and 10 looks were selected from the sketches to be implemented by Rosalinde Heerkens and Aurélie Callewaert of the Antwerp pattern studio Trois-Quarts.
Fashion Balls, Margot Verstuyft 1BA Antwerp Fashion Department, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
Fashion Balls, Igor Dieryck 3BA Antwerp Fashion Department, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
Fashion Balls, Ekaterina Sadovskaya 2BA Antwerp Fashion Department, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
Fashion Balls, Matthew Schell 1BA Antwerp Fashion Department, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
Fashion Balls, Alise Anna Dzirniece 3BA Antwerp Fashion Department, (c) MoMu Antwerp, Photo: Ronald Stoops
The students are Margot Verstuyft (1BA), Matthew Schell (1BA), Ekaterina Sadovskaya (2BA), Tim Stolte (2BA), Igor Dieryck (3BA), Xin Huang (3BA), Luna Moraga Garcia (3BA), Danyao Jiang (3BA), Alise Anna Dzirniece (3BA) and Ching Lin Chen (3BA). Their looks come together in a unique performance and together they create a large ‘tableau vivant’. By scanning a QR code, every visitor to the ‘Fashion Balls’ can watch this fashion film starring the custom-dressed balls, filmed by director and photographer Bjorn Tagemose, from 23 August.
From 23 August onwards, the ‘Balls’ will be given a new home, piece by piece, at iconic locations in the city: Central Station, Operaplein, Meir, De Gerlachekaai, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and the Theodoor Van Rijswijckplaats in front of the MoMu building. You can discover all the locations through the QR code and the app, which immediately becomes a walk through the city. Visitors have until 29 November 2021 to wrap themselves in the tongue-in-cheek creativity for which Antwerp and its fashion community are so renowned.
Director and Chief Curator Kaat Debo: “The Academy's fashion department is the beating heart of Antwerp's fashion story, the place where fantastic fashion talent graduates every year. With the ‘Fashion Balls’, we're literally bring this talent to the streets of Antwerp. Everyone has had to work, study and live in isolation for the past year... That's why we wanted to put on a playful and positive project that gives a sense of freedom and invites the passer-by to take part.”
PRACTICAL
‘Fashion Balls'
- From August 5, 2021 until August 23, 2021: De Gerlachekaai
- From August 23, 2021 until November 29, 2021: Central Station / Operaplein / Meir / De Gerlachekaai / Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp / Theodoor Van Rijswijckplaats
Free entrance
FASHION 2.021
The 'Fashion Balls' are part of ‘Fashion 2.021 Antwerp - Fashion/Conscious’, the reopening programme of MoMu - Fashion Museum Antwerp in collaboration with the city of Antwerp and VISITFLANDERS.
More info: fashion2021antwerp.be