Walter Van Beirendonck FW26 Depicts the Modern Scarecrow
The collection explores Art Brut through a tension between aggression and tenderness.
Summary
-
The show opened with a model on a scooter, setting a kinetic tone for a spectacle filled with vivid colors and bags shaped like mystic monsters
-
Walter Van Beirendonck draws from outsider art to create protective, cover-like silhouettes that use industrial tape and British wools to shield the wearer
-
This season serves as a tribute to the youth of 2026, reimagined as modern scarecrows who embrace unfiltered creativity and a disregard for social norms
In a world where traditional subcultures have dissolved into the digital ether, Walter Van Beirendonck returns to the fringes for Fall/Winter 2026. This season, titled “SCARE the CROW / SCARECROW,” is a profound meditation on Art Brut—the “raw art” of the outsider. Drawing direct inspiration from André Robillard’s makeshift scrap-metal artillery, Van Beirendonck explores a sartorial tension between the aggressive and the tender. This is fashion as a survival kit, assembled with the unfiltered urgency of a child and the protective instinct of an exile.
The collection stayed true to Van Beirendonck’s DNA of outlandish spectacle, exploding with bright, vivid colors that defied his own mention of restraint. Models paraded with a “vocabulary of contradiction,” clutching toy water guns and plush weaponry—a nod to the tension between aggression and childhood tenderness. The modularity of the garments was matched by the accessories; models wore Eastpak backpacks and bags that resembled mystic monsters, blurring the line between utility and creature.
Taking cues from the dust covers that shield sculptures, garments draped over bodies like “covers” for the soul. In a technical feat, 3D-printed blooms and plastic artillery were paired with Eastpak integrated smocks. British wools collided with industrial tape and nylon, creating a suit of armor for the youth of 2026. With the return of Puk Puk, Van Beirendonck delivers a defiant signal to the new generation: the Scarecrows are here, they are colorful, and they are real.
