WWWSHOWWW - ANTWERP FASHION DEPARTMENT TO SEND OFF 2020 GRADUATES

The Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts is counting down to a new dawn for its end-of-year fashion show: the future-leaning and online streaming WWWSHOWWW.

On Saturday June 27, starting at 8PM CET, WWWSHOWWW will be going live for free on a dynamic digital platform, cross-pollinating tech with fashion tradition. Rallying in solidarity with the 122 Bachelor students and 9 graduating Masters in the age of physical distancing, global top-tier fashion industry names have united with the Fashion Department to make this year’s edition as memorable as it is groundbreaking. Offering up a powerful vantage-point, photographer/director Willy Vanderperre and stylist and consultant Olivier Rizzo - both highly-celebrated Academy alumni - created a conceptual remote fashion shoot during lockdown, resulting in 9 striking posters crowned with graphic design by Paul Boudens.

Accessible to all at no entrance cost, WWWSHOWWW is fully set to shift the frontiers of innovative student fashion design and presentation around the world.

PIXELLATED PERFECTION

Joining a formidable group of industry major-leaguers lending their time, expertise and support to WWWSHOWWW, Willy Vanderperre and Olivier Rizzo are the first to be named. In the spirit of the Fashion Department’s commitment to remastering the digital-physical realm and uplifting the students graduating in these uncertain times, Vanderperre and Rizzo reconceptualised the traditional fashion shoot to create the graduation imagery. Having a personal relationship with Belgian and international super models and their agencies, together with the casting director, they could count on everyone's voluntary collaboration on this project.

Annemarie Saric, Model: Anok Yai @NEXT, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane VirlogeuxFlorentina Leitner, Model: Kaia Gerber @DNA Models, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane Virlogeux

Isabelle Lempik, Model: Ilona Desmet @GIRL MGNT, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane VirlogeuxJulia Ballardt, Models: Daan Duez & Maoro Bultheel @REBEL Management, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane Virlogeux

Karolina Widecka, Model: Mica Argañaraz @DNA Models, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane VirlogeuxMarie Martens, Model: Rianne Van Rompaey @DNA Models, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane Virlogeux

Nico Verhaegen, Model: Craig Shimirimana @REBEL Management, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane VirlogeuxSabrina Pfattner, Model: Kiki Willems @DNA Models, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane VirlogeuxSilvia Rognoni, Model: Sora Choi @Ford Paris, Photography: Willy Vanderperre, Styling: Olivier Rizzo, Casting: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING, Graphic design: Paul Boudens, Postproduction: Stéphane Virlogeux

Spotlighting the work of 9 Master students, Olivier Rizzo curated key pieces. The looks were then photographed by Willy Vanderperre using different techniques from a distance, via video call. The result is the pinnacle of abstract interpretation and student-master collaboration. The proof is in the (im)perfection of the pixels. Olivier Rizzo reflects: “Our focal point was the celebration of creativity and young talent. The models themselves are also very connected to the arts in their personal life, so their honest reaction to the clothing and overall concept was overwhelmingly positive and sparked their imagination for us to capture.”

Walter Van Beirendonck, head of the Fashion Department shares: “The starting point of WWWSHOWWW was to give current students the same opportunities and visibility as their predecessors but also to really celebrate their work. Willy and Olivier were very enthusiastic to embrace creativity in these difficult times. WWWSHOWWW will be a completely new experience, but it’s that difference that makes it exciting and fantastical. It is a next step that we as a school were thinking about even before the COVID-19 crisis and which has been accelerated and digitally evolved by the virus.”

WWWELCOME TO ALL

The WWWSHOWWW platform is built on the collaboration between the Antwerp Fashion Department and creative agency Random Studio. Challenged by the Fashion Department to provide a virtual contemporary environment for the physical creations brought to life by the students, Random Studio worked to translate the future-facing vision of the department into 360 storytelling for a global audience to savour. Through abstracting conventional physical show mechanisms Random questions the current format and explores the potentional of future shows in the digital space.

The full programme spans an entire evening, a catwalk of computerfiles representing the finest of worldwide design talent (from all 122 Bachelores and 9 Master students) quality-stamped by the Antwerp Fashion Department. The scene is set for a feast of inspiration and a gateway to fashion’s future, open to all.

WWWSHOWWW - PRACTICAL

Saturday June 27, 2020
​8PM CET
​No tickets or reservation needed
​www.showww.be / #wwwshowww
​Enter your emailaddress via www.showww.be to be notified when the platform goes live.

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 & The Woolmark Company in collaboration with Sudwolle Group.