The collection Lust Never Sleeps (2012) by Walter van Beirendonck acknowledges the durability of our baser instincts. In weaving the traditional shields shown on the front of the garments, it was a particular challenge to produce a thin, supple fabric despite using various coloured yarns.
Van Beirendonck’s clothes are an unsettling combination of cartoonish joie de vivre and deeply sinister subtext. Lust Never Sleeps was based around a literal face-off between masks: the kind that warriors in Papua New Guinea or voodoo high priests in the Caribbean paint on, and the leather kind worn by Western fetishists in sex clubs.
The designer’s fetish references were not just reserved for masks either but extended to full-body leather waders, fluffy mohairs and pointy details. In fact, the collection was a natural heir to Vivienne Westwood’s SEX shop or Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, two other instances of cartoon antics masking a lethal assault on the everyday.
Van Beirendonck (Brecht, 1957) is a Flemish fashion designer. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1980. He is known for his strong graphics, innovative cuts and unexpected colour combinations. Each collection brings together his fascination for pop music, comics, science fiction and cultural traditions. His work has been acquired by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, among others.
