Not to be dramatic but this is fashion history in the making. From June 3 to 4, the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp will put on SHOW2022 - the annual graduation extravaganza - in its fully unfettered form. Live and IRL once more, you’re invited to take in the hard work of the 3 Bachelor years, crescendo’d by the presentations of the 12 Master students from 8 different countries. 2022 also marks the official year Walter Van Beirendonck will retire as Department Head, so this edition will be one for the gilt-edged books.

As you’ll remember, the past two years there were no physical Academy graduate shows due to COVID regulations. The online show versions, WWWSHOWWW 2020 & 2021, were astounding feats of tech and sheer will in impossible circumstances. However, it can’t help but feel like a homecoming to physically rejoin the live international audience of roughly 4,000 fashion industry pros and supporters. To embrace and witness the new and next while also honouring an immense legacy.

Walter Van Beirendonck joined the Antwerp Fashion Department in 1985 as a teacher, choosing not to move his then-budding label abroad, and has become synonymous with this worldwide phenomenon of a fashion institute, putting Belgian fashion on the map for good. Since Walter Van Beirendonck became head of the department in 2007, he has worked tirelessly with the entire faculty to make sure fashion’s rising names (check the mastheads of every major and independent fashion house and you’ll always find an Antwerp alum) were steeped in a creative education beyond par: "With memories of 37 years brimming with creativity, I’m very proud of what we have achieved. Together with the team of lecturers, we have put the Fashion Department on the worldwide map and with the graduation show we have provided a platform to young fashion talent. Me saying goodbye to the Fashion Department does not signal the end of my other work. My label and all my various projects continue. I have many ideas left and plenty of dreams to fulfil."

It’s always exciting to speculate who will be part of the jury, and this year a select group of alumni have been chosen, including the illustrious likes of Jurgi Persoons, Demna Gvasalia, Rushemy Botter, Minju Kim, Bernhard Willhelm and many other high-profile graduates - who better to know what these students have overcome?

Enjoy a preview of what the Class of 2022 mood will be, as served to us by the @antwerpfashionmasters IG, and we can’t wait to see you runwayside.

Listen to The Most podcast conversation with Walter Van Beirendonck here. 
Listen to The Most podcast conversations with Antwerp Fashion Department alums and former students Glenn Martens, Shayli Harrison, Raphaële Lenseigne, Cecile Paravina & Sander Bos.
Listen to The Most podcast conversations with long-time Antwerp Fashion Department collaborators Inge Grognard & Paul Boudens.

Be sure to pick up a copy of national newspaper De Tijd, available on newsstands Saturday June 4, to read the momentous conversation between Walter Van Beirendonck and Dominique Nzeyimana in De Tijd’s Sabato magazine.

SHOW2022
Friday June 3 & Saturday June 4, 2022

​Waagnatie, Rijnkaai 150, 2000 Antwerp

​Bar: 6PM / Doors: 7PM / Start show: 8PM

​Tickets: seats 37 euro / standing 15 euro

​More info & reservations here

Header image: (c) Photography by Ronald Stoops, Graphic Design by Paul Boudens, Styling by Dirk Van Saene