RUNWAY: Walter Van Beirendonck FW17

Walter Van Beirendonck is one of the foremost thought-provoking and interesting designers working today. His collections, equally avant-garde and weird, sometimes skew one way or the other but for FW17, his focus was on power and how the hunger for it brings out the beasts in so many. Sure, there were well cut suits, cool knits and sharp footwear but the focus here were on the fables on the clothes, focusing on power and how the powerful want more and more influence, expanding their hold on it as much as they can (see the supremely oversized gloves), even going to war to achieve more (see the nouveau-jerkins). Political statements are not new to this Belgian designer but this collection, at this moment in history, feels so relevant.