Antwerp will celebrate fashion in all its facets in 2026, marking the 40th anniversary of the international breakthrough of the Antwerp Six with a major exhibition and a city-wide fashion festival. The initiative is being launched by MoMu – Fashion Museum Antwerp, the Flanders District of Creativity and the City of Antwerp, in collaboration with EventFlanders.

At the heart of the programme is the exhibition The Antwerp Six at MoMu, opening at the end of March. In early June, the Antwerp.Fashion Festival will turn the spotlight on today’s generation of designers, fashion talents and brands. Together, the two initiatives underline both the historical significance and the contemporary vitality of Antwerp as a leading international fashion city. 

In November, the Flemish government officially recognised the Antwerp.Fashion Festival as a Flemish flagship event.

The Antwerp Six – Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene and Marina Yee, who died at the end of last year – graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in the early 1980s. 

Supported by a government programme to revitalise Belgium’s fashion and textile sector, they caused an international sensation in 1986 when they presented their collections in London in the United Kingdom. Their breakthrough put Antwerp firmly on the global fashion map and each went on to build an influential career, shaping contemporary fashion for decades to come.

28 March 2026 to 17 January 2027

From 28 March 2026 to 17 January 2027, MoMu will present the first major exhibition ever devoted to the group as a whole. 

The exhibition traces their shared trajectory, from their student years in Antwerp to six highly influential solo careers, and shows how their distinctive vision and imagination continue to influence fashion today. 

The exhibition will be complemented by lectures, guided tours, workshops and evening openings, as well as two publications: an authorised biography and a book of illustrations and essays on their impact.

“The Antwerp Six helped shape recent fashion history”, says MoMu director Kaat Debo. “We are immensely proud to bring the work of these six iconic designers together for a unique, in-depth view of their legacy and their influence.”

Flemish Tourism Minister Melissa Depraetere (Vooruit) also welcomes the initiative. “The hard work of hundreds of Antwerp designers, with the Antwerp Six in particular, put Antwerp on the map as a fashion city and gave tourism a boost as well. With the Antwerp.Fashion Festival, we honour that work. The 40th anniversary promises to be a major celebration with thousands of visitors, young and old. The city, its entrepreneurs and its hospitality sector are ready.”

Alongside celebrating heritage, the Year of Fashion places strong emphasis on young people and accessibility. Through a diverse programme of projects and events throughout the year, MoMu and the Flanders District of Creativity aim to inspire young people and vulnerable groups, using fashion as a gateway to creativity, sustainability, identity and entrepreneurship.

Junction

One example is JUNCTION, a low-threshold streetwear event focused on young people and local streetwear brands. 

On 9 May, workshops, talks and a market will take place at cultural venue Het Bos, encouraging young makers to express their identity and culture through streetwear. From the end of November, MoMu will also present ‘SEW WHAT‘, a theatre production developed with hetpaleis for children aged 10 to 14, inviting them to look differently at the clothes they wear every day and at the influence of fashion on media consumption.

Antwerp.Fashion Festival

From 4 to 7 June 2026, the Antwerp.Fashion Festival will bring fashion to the streets of the city centre. Established names and emerging designers will present themselves through fashion shows, exhibitions, talks and events at locations across Antwerp. 

Local shops will also take part, hosting presentations, installations and collaborations with designers, allowing visitors and tourists to experience fashion in a more accessible and immersive way. Most festival activities will be free of charge.

To support the sector, the City of Antwerp is providing financial backing for shows, events and installations during the festival. Designers, talents and brands can apply for up to €20,000 for a presentation of their collection, or up to €5,000 for an installation or event in collaboration with an Antwerp shop, hospitality business or studio.

The Antwerp.Fashion Festival forms part of a multi-year fashion plan supported by the City of Antwerp, the Flanders District of Creativity and MoMu, in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. The aim is to strengthen fashion entrepreneurship, increase the visibility of both young and established talents, and further reinforce Antwerp’s international reputation as an avant-garde fashion city.

“As a city, we haven’t just worn fashion, we’ve helped create it”, says Alderwoman for Culture Lien Van de Kelder (Vooruit). “Forty years ago, the Antwerp Six were given the space and trust to grow. Today, we continue to give artists and new talent the oxygen they need to experiment, fail and try again. That is how we invest in the future.”

Art and museums in Antwerp

• ANTWERP | KMSKA schedules ambitious exhibition programme for 2026, featuring international masters such as Antony Gormley, Philip Aguirre y Otegui and Ossip Zadkine.
• Museums of the City of Antwerp look ahead to 2026.
• ANTWERP | ‘Urban Legends’: three young makers take over Museum Mayer van den Bergh on 29 November, 6 December and 29 January.
• ANTWERP | ‘Suske & Wiske and the Visual Arts’: M HKA shows how a comic strip series Shapes the collective memory.
• REVIEW | ‘La ligne de vie’ René Magritte exhibition at Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA).
• REVIEW | ‘Universal Tongue’, on dance, at Museum Aan de Stroom (MAS) until 4 January 2026.
• 2028 to be Music Year in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Flemish government cancels €130 million new museum building for M HKA in Antwerp.
• MOMU | ‘GIRLS. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In-Between’, 27 September 2025 to 1 February 2026.
• ANTWERP | Museum Plantin-Moretus highlights 300 years of women’s stories in ‘Women’s Business / Business Women’.
• ANTWERP | Museum Mayer van den Bergh opens exhibition ‘Public Favourites’, from Mad Meg to Delft Blue, look at art through other people’s eyes.
• ANTWERP | Middelheim Museum celebrates 75 years with a summer full of new ways to experience the art park.
• ANTWERP | ‘Compassion’ in the MAS: the many faces of compassion.
• 2025 at the museums of Antwerp.
• 2025 at Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp (KMSKA): René Magritte, Marthe Donas, Panamarenko, Hans Op de Beeck.
• ANTWERP | Graphics Museum De Reede ft. Francisco Goya, Edvard Munch, Félicien Rops and Albrecht Dürer.
• ANTWERP | Rubens Experience and Rubens Garden at Rubenshuis.
• ANTWERP | Innovations in the Middelheim Museum provide a completely new visitor experience.
• A visit of the Flemish Tram and Bus Museum – Vlaams Tram- en Autobusmuseum (VlaTAM) in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Discovering queer(ed) art with the Queer Tour at the KMSKA fine arts museum.
• REVIEW | Illusion Antwerpen, an active and photogenic museum.
• Antwerp museums and sports facilities team up with European Disability Card for accessible leisure activities.
• Museum Mayer van den Bergh.
• ANTWERP | Inside Rubens House.
• Museum Plantin-Moretus in Antwerp.
• ANTWERP | Museum Vleeshuis up for restoration.
• BOOK | ‘Antwerp. An Archaeological View on the Origin of the City’ by Tim Bellens.
• Red Star Line Museum.
• Paleis op de Meir. 
• DIVA, Antwerp Home of Diamonds.
• ANTWERP | Red Star Line Museum of (e)migration.