Bio: The oldest member of the Antwerp Six, Van Beirendonck graduated in 1980 alongside Martin Margiela and has been designing his own collections since 1983. That same year, he returned to the academy as a professor and has held a position there ever since, eventually leading fashion education there in 2006. He personally taught both Simons and Van Assche when they attended the academy, while Craig Green once interned for him. Van Beirendonck also regularly contributes to galleries and art installations, creating lavish materials for his artful materials for his clothing collections and even designed costumes for U2’s 1997 PopMart tour and created a capsule for IKEA.

Style: To say “wild” would be an understatement. Van Beirendonck is most definitely out there and often likes to make a statement with his collections. Whether that statement is more seriously about the state of our world, as with his Fall 2015 collection, or if it’s a bunch of sexual fetishes, you can count on Walter.

Legacy: It’s clear that many influential designers have called the bald-headed, bushy-bearded Van Beirendonck a mentor in some capacity somewhere along the way. His eccentric and over-the-top design styles notwithstanding, his work and expertise has already helped established some of the best designers of the modern era and will continue to be felt in the future.

Bio: After graduating in 1981, Ann Demeulemeester found success almost immediately, winning the inaugural Golden Spindle award in 1982 for promising young Belgian designers, which was created by the Belgian government to strengthen the country’s textile industry. As you’ll see later on, two other members of the Antwerp Six also took home the award. Three years later, she founded her eponymous label and showed in Paris in 1992. While the Ann Demeulemeester label found success behind its Japanese-influenced, punk aesthetic, the designer always worked to stay independent and even though she was approached by larger houses for creative director positions, Demeulemeester always turned them down. Years later, in 2013, haven gotten sick of the fashion cycle, Demeulemeester abruptly quit her namesake label via a handwritten PDF letter she sent to her company. Ever since, she’s been completely absent from fashion.

Style: Minimalist, but detailed. Pieces often come with unique, signifying silhouettes and cuts, often in black and white, but occasionally with splashes of vibrant color. Demeulemeester has a gothic, unorthodox style all her own, though she is often compared to other avant garde designers like Rick Owens, Boris Bidjan Saberi and early Helmut Lang.

Legacy: Zigging when others zagged. As trends became powerful forces that determined the success of young designers in the early days of mainstream fashion, Demeulemeester stuck to her own aesthetic, establishing and honing it over the years to reflect herself, not the industry around her. In the process, she created a label that speaks to a devoted following to this very day, even without her at the helm.

Bio: A designer who needs no introduction, though he is often peculiarly absent from the press and mainstream fashion media, Dries Van Noten is, undoubtedly, the most commercially successful of the Antwerp Six. The son of a menswear shop owner and grandson to a tailor, Van Noten was born into the garment world and took right to it. He is a quiet, cerebral designer, but quite brilliant, offering only ready-to-wear collections, no pre-fall, pre-spring or haute couture work, as he doesn’t like creating something he can’t make available in a store. Van Noten still operates out of Antwerp, shows in Paris and opened his first store in his hometown in 1989, and, in 2008, won the CFDA’s International Designer of the Year award. He’s repeatedly stated in interviews that big name conglomerates like LVMH and Kering have approached the brand, but he’s always strived to remain independent and rebuffed their offers, often emphasizing the responsibility he has toward everyone who works for him. That strict mantra has helped keep the brand relevant for decades, just recently celebrating his 100th runway show with a myriad of greatest hits sent down the runway. In this author's opinion, Van Noten's Fall 2015 menswear collection may be his most memorable.

Style: Understated elegance. A Dries Van Noten collection is filled with memorable pieces that often include not only ornate embroidery or embellishment, but classic, everyday pieces as well. Sticking to a familiar palette for multiple seasons in a row, it’s easy to pick a Van Noten look out of a lineup.

Legacy: When all is said and done, Van Noten will go down as one of the greats. One of the best designers working today, his designs are undoubtedly destined for museums.

Bio: Of the Antwerp Six, Dirk Bikkembergs is perhaps the one that embraced the cycle of fashion hardest. The only member of the group who graduated in 1982, Bikkembergs eventually also won the Golden Spindle in 1985. His profile first rose based on his footwear work, launching a line in 1987, and later behind his forward-looking menswear collection that launched a year later. His obsession with soccer eventually became his calling card, separating him from the more technical-minded members of the collective and focusing on more athletic designs with commercial success rather than high-fashion intrigue. He often employed soccer players as models and launched Bikkembergs Sport in 2000. He went so far as to acquire lower-league Italian team F.C. Fossombrone in 2005 as a test lab for his designs—though he would eventually sell the team in 2010—and got to show a 2005 collection at F.C. Barcelona’s iconic stadium, Camp Nou. As for today, the Bikkembergs name is still around, recently relaunching its menswear collection, helmed by British designer Lee Wood. But while his brand still most definitely has a place in the sneakers/underwear world, Bikkembergs the man has taken some steps back.

Style: Sportswear before luxury sportswear really found its groove. Think Polo's RLX, Tisci’s Givenchy menswear or even the greased-up, Tom Ford-era Gucci.

Legacy: As a soccer lover myself, it’s great to see some of the sport’s impact on fashion. Bikkembergs may have actually paved the way for athletic's eventual massive influence on the industry. I think that’s worth remembering.

Bio: Functioning far outside the realm of the fashion system—after graduating in 1981 with van Noten, Yee and Demeuelemeester—Van Saene opened his own boutique, Beauties and Heroes, that same year. Ever since, he’s focused on small scale production rather than larger commercial success, producing clothing and works of art such as ceramics and other home goods. In 1983, he won the Golden Spindle, an award given to young Belgian designers. Sometimes described as the most artistic of the Six, Van Saene’s clothing designs, which he initially showed in Paris in 1990, lack their own distinct aesthetic. An interesting note of contention was a controversial collage Van Saene supposedly created around 1992 named "Bambi," that poked fun at the group, especially Demeuelemeester, causing a rift between him and the other members.

Style: Most of Van Saene’s designs feature all-over print, which often make out a distinct scene or feature someone’s visage draped across the entire garment and take inspiration from his background as a painter, having screen-printed his work on pieces throughout his collections. But other pieces, such as his black bow dresses, show an avant garde ability that is quite impressive.

Legacy: While he may be remembered more as a true artist when all is said and done, Van Saene’s abilities as a designer should be admired.

Bio: As one of the more forgotten members of the Six, Yee rose to fame with the rest of the roster, graduating from the Royal Academy in 1981 alongside van Noten, Demeuelemeester and Van Saene. Yee’s work centered on leather for men and women, along with clothes that she often found at flea markets, which she then reconstructed in an effort to battle the materialistic wastefulness often associated with fashion. Though she did not show at the now famous London shows, she started her own label, Marie, to solid success. Yee wanted to avoid the pitfalls of running a larger, more commercial label and, ever since, her presence in fashion has been felt less and less, though she collaborated with fellow Six member Bikkembergs on the brand Lena Lena, worked in theater costume design and, word has it, still runs her own workshop in Antwerp where she creates repurposed pieces made from vintage garments.

Style: Early visions of reconstructed garments, repurposed vintage pieces and a general oeuvre of recycled, eco-friendly fashion.

Legacy: Before the issue of eco-consciousness really hit the mainstream in fashion, Yee was there, putting it at the forefront of her designs and, in the process, inspiring many similarly concerned designers along the way. That’s a legacy to be proud of, even if it doesn’t qualify as commercial success.

Bio: There really isn’t all that much we can add to this that hasn’t already been covered in the previous Margiela Master Class, so get to reading. But it is important to remember that Margiela himself was not a true member of the Antwerp Six as he had already taken a job with Jean Paul Gaultier at the time the other members were showing in London.

Style: Deconstructed tailoring with an avant garde edge and penchant for small details that have defined an unforgettable aesthetic over the past two decades.

Legacy: Only one of the most mysterious and revered fashion designers of all time.