Walter Van Beirendonck SS24. Paris Fashion Week

Walter Van Beirendonck Spring Summer 2024 during Paris Fashion Week.

DAWLEETOO.

I love to research. Thats how I always start.

Diving into memories, discoveries, history, art new & old. My collection books filled with drawings and collages becoming visualisations of what is happening inside my brain.

Embracing fresh technologies has never been something I shied away from. But let me tell you: researching in the era of accelerated A.I. is trippy in many ways.

This time, I stumbled upon incredibly intriguing images of DAWLEETOO. Was it a lost city? Or a fake place?

I am not ashamed to admit: when the first simulated visuals popped into my feed, telling truth from fiction wasnt easy. I wasnt the only one tricked, surely!

WHAT WAS REAL AND WHAT WAS SURREAL? In a way I found it shocking. But Im also curious.

FASCINATED!

Where are the machines taking us?

The world around us is transforming at breakneck speed and it feels like we are being used as crash test dummies.

I CREATED AN ALIEN ALPHABET. Thinking of new pictorial characters that could be used in this mixed reality that we are now occupying.

This collection plays with hard materials for cover. Soft and vulnerable (one-)pieces underneath. Voluminous versus close-to-the-bone. Protection versus transparency. Monochromatic / Bi-coloured. Red/White Black/Yellow.

WARNING! PAY ATTENTION. We are new world explorers and guinea pigs.Surrounded by hyper-myths, todays fairy tales.

COSMIC OUTSIDERS UNITE. Dream big but keep protecting our humanity.

WELCOME TO DAWLEETOO.

XXX WALTER

Runway looks