On Friday, June 21, 2023, a group of nine students from Lasell University’s School of Fashion worked backstage as dressers for Walter Van Beirendonck’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection during Paris Men’s Fashion Week. Said collection, “DAWLEETO,” was named after a lost jungle city in which a British explorer from the late 1800s, Alfred Isaac Middleton, was said to have disappeared. Considering as not very much is known about this “lost city.” Beirendonck made use of generative AI visuals to envision what it might look like.
For those unfamiliar, Walter Van Beirendonck is a Belgian fashion designer. Quite notably, he is a member of the Antwerp Six, a group of fashion designers who graduated from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts between 1980 and 1951. From 2007 to 2022, Beirendonck oversaw the Royal Academy’s fashion department. And interestingly enough, in 1997, he designed the costumes for the U2 “PopMart Tour”
Around 1:00 PM, the group of Lasell University students, along with a similarly sized group of students from Louisiana State University, arrived at the prison-like venue where the show was soon to take place. Upon arrival, all of the students were led to the backstage area. They were awestruck to see about two dozen racks of clothing lined up neatly, as well as some of the models huddled together. After a few minutes, the group moved into a different area and were addressed by three of the backstage managers. The managers covered some basic guidelines and sent the group back to the first area with instructions to pick a rack of clothes, and by extension, the model you would be dressing.
After quite a bit of time passed, the models began making their way to their clothing and corresponding dresser. Once dressed, the models all congregated together, forming a predetermined, ordered line. Suddenly, one could hear live music being performed by Poltergeist, a French electronic producer, and the show was off. While most of the models had just one look, some had two. For those with two, they had to rush to their dresser once in the backstage area and hastily change into their next outfit. And for the final portion of the show, models stormed the runway with plastic bags over themselves. These bags, which extended just past the knee, had bright white skeletons airbrushed on.
Soon enough, the runway portion was done, and the backstage crew began packing up. The dressers were to bag up each of the respective looks they had been responsible for and put them with all the other ensembles on a rack towards the back of the room.
Once everything was said and done, Beirendonck was even nice enough to take a picture with the group from Lasell University.
Paris 
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