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Walter Van Beirendonck A/W 2001-02 - Revolution
Photography: Elizabeth Broekaert |
Rituals delves more deeply into Van Beirendonck’s fascination with ritual, ranging from
ethnic initiation rites to fetishism and S&M. Initiation rites are represented by a shark mask
from the Bijagós Archipelago of Guinea-Bissau. The masks are worn during the festivities
before or after the initiation retreat by young men that are on the height of their physical
strength. The young dancers who wear such masks imitate the behaviour of these potentially
dangerous animals, who represent the untamed and uninitiated. For Van Beirendonck, the
shark is a powerful and iconic animal. He incorporates sharks into prints and make-up, for
example on the faces of black models in Hand On Heart (autumn-winter 2011–12).
As a young designer, Van Beirendonck became acquainted with American photographer
Robert Mapplethorpe, who, thanks to his classic language of form, succeeded in reaching
a wide audience in the 1970s with a highly laden subject in his documentation of the New
York S&M scene. For Van Beirendonck, S&M was a source of inspiration very early in his
career. In 1982, he presented the collection Sado at the Vestirama trends show in Brussels,
with models in long latex jackets, latex tube skirts and headwear with muzzles attached.
Hardbeat (autumn-winter 1989–90) is the collection in which S&M and fetishism are most
outspoken, by way of knee-high laced boots and latex jackboots, masks, bondage and such
slogans as ‘Fetish for Main Course’, ‘Great Balls of Fire’ and ‘Licks & Kisses’. The title
refers to the song, ‘Hard Beat by Real Man’, by Jan Roelen of the Belgian band Arbeid
Adelt (‘Work Ennobles’). In the same way that Mapplethorpe used a highly classical visual
language in order to express an aspect of sexuality that society prefers to keep concealed,
Van Beirendonck softens elements from the S&M wardrobe by producing them not in
leather, but in soft, colourful knitwear.
In numerous collections, S&M and fetish elements appear as masks or latex bodysuits
(with or without lacquered fingernails), lace fastenings, corsets and spiked heels for men
(even a double spiked heel in Take a W-Ride, autumn-winter 2010–11 ). One memorable
collection is Paradise Pleasure Productions (autumn-winter 1985–86), also known as the
‘Rubber Show’. Photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino immortalized the collection in a shoot
with the models posing suggestively with balloons and an inflatable sex doll. In making
use of rubber, Van Beirendonck in fact also wants to give expression to safe sex and ecological
ideas. ‘For me, the rubber suit was a kind of basic clothing, a protective layer against
the aggression of external elements’.
