ROYAL ACADEMY OF ANTWERP MASTER: CLASS OF 2025

The final work that students put out to graduate from the Master programme at the Royal Academy of Antwerp is always an astonishing and raw lesson on how meaningful clothing can be. Through diverse concepts and hours of work, the students reflect in the show and the immersive installations their best work to date in an international climate promoted by associations and the government that surrounds the school. Second year in a row we are able to attend to such a great platform for talent in the fashion world. In this case, there were 14 master students that were able to mesmerize an audience and get people’s attention in a show that lasted for more than 3 hours. We are so proud of every student’s work, but these are our six favourites (apart from María Alborés Lojo, a Spanish designer that is graduating from the school and an interview with her is coming later this week).

Emiliano Alvarez Torres (@emi.emmy.emmy)

The installation feels like an intimate approach to a backstage, the lights showed to the public the undergarments and the flower sculptures in detail. Expressive enough with so much potential for people to engage and post a story on Instagram. The video playing on an old TV gives the touch of antique that the collection relies on conceptually. But it was in the show when “In A Violent Nature” really shined, the way those garments held themselves and looked effortless to the human eyes was incredible. A like his idea of creating a dialogue between fashion and nature with a cinematic approach. At the end of the day, beauty surrounds us the most in the form of the flowers that he recreated here. Touching the hyperobject concept by Timothy Morton is really smart thinking that the fashion presented by the students, in this school in particular, is always centered around the idea of creating something memorable and that has its own value. Telling this emotional story through ecological systems really speaks volume on how deep our own reflection on the pieces can go just by looking at it.

Chloë Reners (@chloereners)

The hanging piece, the clothes rack with the pieces, the research work laid out alongside the campaign images… it really immerses the viewer into the world that the designer is trying to portray, a look into the representation of women in Surrealism. Inspired by the paintings of George Underwood, the designer decided to create pieces that shape the perception of reality. In the exhibition, we could also see and play with her collaboration with KOMONO, an Belgian eyewear brand that supports a few graduates every year to make their collection as complete as possible. “Dot dot dot” is a title that encapsulates the energy of these women that presented themselves questioning by their appearance what is common and what feels edited.

Annaëlle Reudink (@annaelle.reudink)

The prompt for this collection is easy: telling an audience of strangers that you (as a fashion graduate) want to be everything and nothing at the same time. A theme that was perceived clearly through her designs and the installation space, a step into her creative mind in which year by year has been surprising us until a point of no return and without expectations (because she is just a master of craftsmanship, an encapsulator of techniques in looks). In her space, we could find the accessories that are the cherry on top of the collection and the looks that were over a hand painted paper, an ephemeral sample of her print skills. It was a dream to see those pieces right in front of our eyes, while trying to touch them to digest the multitude of textures we were seeing. Afterwards, in the show, the collection went crazy and felt like the dream diary where a fictional autobiography is display throughout looks that drew inspiration from different time periods. She refuses to enhance the quiet violence that can be felt when you refuse to experiment everything, she wants to present herself the collection that defines all the lives she had lived and the ones that are still unfolding with the work of Cindy Sherman and Leigh Bowery in the center of the research. 

Lille Schmid (@lilleanalille)

“Loophole” is a study on the understanding of our own self as the act of piecing together every element of our lives to create a version that feels right. There was a feeling of introspection in her exhibition space, where some garments were laid-out flat behind a glass and some furniture that depict a personal space where research occurred. Everything in white, making the pieces pop and getting a feeling of sanitary environment. In the show we could see how the different archetypes were put into actions and how the intricate details that we could see through the layers in the exhibition are notorious on a bigger stage. Multitude of ornamentations that understand the power of it, relying on the thought that they might be a weapon enough, even fragility can be harmful. Creating out of the concept of soulful knitting by Erwin Wums and The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman in 1959, letting herself play with the woman that want to construct through intricate and thoughtful designs.

Amar Singh (@komkomromotyo)

If you were not impressed with the show that Amar Singh put on that night under the Waagnatie ceiling, you don’t know how to have fun. Seeing how a person can understand himself that well and create a collection around the idea of being a clown club kid is impeccable. There is not a better way to portray your academic work like giving a viewing of your extracurricular nightlife. Her exhibition was full of giant wooden building block, which were used in the campaign for the collection. “Mama, I see clowns…” is a clarity on the work of the designer, after a psychotic breakdown he knew he wanted to start living the vivid and colourful dreamworlds he had experienced in a blurring way. Across a selection of pieces that act as a distortion on traditional serious garments with a focus on creating a clownesque fantasy. It was a blast to get to see real life the talent and escapism that this designer brought to the colourless Antwerp. A movement against rigid rules and social expectations, advocating for performance as a way of living and happiness as the motto.

Paula Van Dyck (@paulavandyck)

Superficiality can be a great tool on which to build a fashion statement, but sometimes it feels overused. “Black mascara” is an exploration on how this characteristic in our everyday life is used as a coping mechanism, identifying ways in which women use it as a form of self-preservation and a method of emotional camouflage. HIs exhibition space was an ode to perception and navigation, between strength and fragility, between surface and depth. As we saw up close, each look uses a different wig rto reinforce the idea of artifice as a way of being. An exploration of control that exploded when the models walked the runway showing their own armor made out of elements that evoke elegance and defense. A loud way to understand clothing as weapon to hurt or cover feelings.

Words: @alraco43