To mark their 20th anniversary as a brand, An Vandevorst and Filip Arickx presented one look from each of their past 40 collections together, repositioning the actual archive pieces in the present by styling it afresh. The title, Always+Forever, expressed heart; the tone, signaled by heraldic flags being sliced through the air, expressed might.
Out came the corset backed with a saddle from their very first collection; the trench from Spring 2004 made entirely of brown paper; the army green parachute silk dress from Spring 2015 with its pooling train; Spring 2016’s heavy metal sari accessorized with a motorcycle helmet; and, of course, the harness stacked with doves from just last year.
Seen it all before? Sure, those who have followed the Belgian couple’s work would recognize the flashbacks—in part because they are mostly prone to making idiosyncratic statements outside of trend winds. But anyone viewing this collection for the first time with an eye turned toward a beautifully tailored backward morning coat or black bustier gown would conclude that their dramatic vision has held up well.
“That’s where you get the difference between fashion and product,” said Arickx backstage. “You can keep these pieces and just reintegrate them.” The integration was aided by B. Åkerlund, who not only styled the looks but collaborated on a range of T-shirts that touch on key A.F. Vandevorst imagery including, of course, the signature red cross. “It was a match made in heaven,” he said, with Åkerlund likening herself to their baby. Her touch, in any case, was helpful; for such a special occasion, the looks didn’t take themselves too seriously.
While the couple would rather you didn’t think of today’s effort in retrospective terms, the feeling was unavoidable thanks to their own messaging: a stylized stamp of the collection date somewhere on each look, plus the actual archive reference clipped on like an identity card. It was as though mannequins in an exhibition had been animated just long enough to remind us of two independent spirits still going strong.
“When you tell 20 years of your life in 15 minutes, the emotions can feel quite compressed,” said Arickx. Meanwhile, the final look offered a clue to what lies ahead for the designers, if not their brand. The motorcycle suit reassembled into a decidedly high-octane dress coat seemed somewhat random until he confessed: “We both want to get our license.”
