Enfnts Terribles

The 9 master students — also laughingly called the COVID-9 by a meme page curated by fashion students, referring to the Antwerp Six — presented their master collections on a specially created virtual platform WWWSHOWWW on June 27.

We teamed up with photographer Merel Hart and videographer Rutger Claes to showcase all nine of the master collections in an editorial and special video that you can find on our Instagram. Start scrolling and read more about the nine Master students that graduated this year at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

Isabelle Lempik – POWER TO CHANGE – Germany/Korea

The collection Power to Change was created by Isabelle Lempik and was influenced by her parents’ marriage. Lempik’s mother is of Korean origin and her father has a German background. The integrated golden rings in the garments symbolize her family’s bond and unity. All the garments are multifunctional so that you can have a fully functional wardrobe with fewer pieces. According to Lempik, a garment with more than one purpose will bring bigger and longer joy.

Annemarie Saric – LUXUS FÜR ALLE – Austria

Annemarie Saric drew inspiration from random terms and sentences for her Luxus Für Alle collection. She found these terms and sentences online, in fashion magazines, and in artworks. Their content and graphical representation deeply interested Saric. She also looked into the streamlined, aerodynamic, and stylistic design language of concept cars. These would also act as an inspiration for her highly sculptural Komono sunglasses design, formed by a cut-out and collage technique of vintage car parts.

Marie Martens – SWANS – Belgium

The starting point for Marie Martens’ Swans was Truman Capote, an American writer most famous for his novel Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The ’60s legend surrounded himself with loads of glamorous women, whom he called Swans. Lee Radziwill was one of these Swans, known as the more fashionable sister of Jackie O. Jackie’s niece and aunt were Little Edie and Big Edie Beale, known from the documentary Grey Gardens. They were an eccentric duo that lived in a decaying house in The Hamptons surrounded by cats. Martens wanted to translate their glamour and eccentricity into silhouettes covered in sequins, hand-embroidered matelassé, and knitwear.

Silvia Rognoni – MARIA – Italy

Maria is a collection created by Master student Silvia Rognoni. Rognoni imagines a woman who is partially inspired by the protagonist of The Marriage of Maria Braun by Rainer Fassbinder. Or more precisely by any character with a strong external shell, but who actually hides a secret fragility inside.

The woman tries to fix what has been broken, picking up garments and putting them back together with the few means she is left with. She patches pillowcases and bedsheets she finds in the house and gathers oversized blazers around her waist with huge safety pins to make them more feminine. She must find the strength to move on and reinvent herself with creativity and poetry.

For the rose motifs, Rognoni was inspired by the flowers by Cy Twombly. The roses are the woman’s secret garden in opposition to the cold steel she shows the outside world.

Photography by Merel Hart
Creative direction, production and styling by Enfnts Terribles Studios
Makeup and hair by Sabine Peeters
Styling and production assistant: Lisa Wynen
Models: Marthe (IMM Brussels), Josepha (Unit Model Management), Lukas (Hakim Model Management)
Short biographies by Janne Schellingen and Femke Lippens

Special thanks to Kavka for the location and Julia Ballardt, Karolina Widecka, Isabelle Lempik, Marie Martens, Annemarie Saric, Florentina Leitner, Sabrina Pfattner, Nico Verhaegen, and Silvia Rognoni for the trust.