Antwerp’s Fashion Class of 2021 set for brand-new WWWSHOWWW

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp Fashion Department is set to stage the second instalment of its virtual fashion spectacle, following the boundary-bending 2020 debut of digital graduation show platform ‘WWWSHOWWW’, marking the end of another academic year curbed by COVID-19 measures. On Saturday June 19 2021, 150 students of the internationally renowned Antwerp Academy will be unveiling their hard work. Live, free of charge and with new interactive additions to the concept – as well as the welcome return of a few audience favourites. 

The decision to bring back the dynamic digital platform was made as COVID-19 event restrictions in Belgium have not yet fully lifted. But mainly, the concept of WWWSHOWW has proven to be an important experiment for the future of fashion. When the global pandemic first presented the Antwerp Fashion Department ​ with the challenge of speeding up the development of its digital offering, Department Head Walter Van Beirendonck and his faculty conceived a virtual and globally accessible runway show with a team of trusted collaborators and the support of famous fashion protagonists, pushing back on the restraints with unseen effort and tech-meets-tradition creativity. After going live in June of 2020 for a worldwide audience of fashion aficionados, the result of the Fashion Department's decisive move forward to platform the students' end-of-year and graduate collections has since been streamed over 50.000 times while 10.744 people tuned into the show live. WWWSHOWWW is truly a global gathering.

A particular highlight from the first WWWSHOWWW comes back around: the ‘Blind Dates’ fashion industry heavyweight-student interview video conversations will be complemented by the all-new online showing of historical and traditional costumes.

As is custom, the show’s climax will be the collection and video presentation of the 20 Master students, supervised by Dirk Van Saene in collaboration with director and cinematographer Bjorn Tagemose, ​ the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerpen and the city of Antwerp. This year, WWWSHOWW will be even more interactive, offering both a livestream show as well as the opportunity to get up-close to the designs of all four academic years via clickthrough.

In addition to the digital offering, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts will also present a physical Masters expo for 84 graduate students from all departments, opening in Antwerp on June 24 with free admission. Featuring the work of the 20 students of the Fashion Department MA Class of 2021 at Huidevettersstraat 39: Angelika Öllinger, Ania Yelizar, Béla Juttner, Ezio Costa, Giorgia Galfré, Huize You, Ingmar Patton Plusczyk, Jasmin Bandomer, Julie Kegels, Kaya Gayoung Lee, Luca Holzinger, Marc Pengel, Minjae Chang, Mohammed El Marnissi, Nadav Perlman, Nicolas Marchiaro, Priss Niinikoski, Vincent Thürstein, Yentsé Yanze Jin and Zexian Liu.
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​WWWSHOWWW 2021
​Saturday ​ June 19 2021 at 8PM
​Save the date, head to www.showww.be and subscribe for updates
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​MASTERS EXPO 2021
​Opening June 24 (8PM - 12AM)
​Running from June 25 - 27 (11AM - 6PM)
​Free entrance
​Fashion Department MA Class of 2021 at Huidevettersstraat 39, 2000 Antwerp, see all locations here

WWWSHOWWW is an organisation of the Antwerp Fashion Department, Royal Academy of Fine Arts - AP University of Applied Sciences and Arts and is supported by Stad Antwerpen. Special thanks to KMSKA, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp

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