Fashion photographer Willy Vanderperre | ‘I’m not afraid to take a bad photo’

Simons, Rizzo and Vanderperre share an obsession with youth culture. That forged their bond. Their creative triumvirate is the common thread throughout Vanderperre’s exhibition ‘Prints, films, a rave and more…’, which opens on April 27 in the Antwerp Fashion Museum. In the accompanying book, Vanderperre chose ‘To Olivier, with whom it all began’ as the motto. And not a word of that is a lie.

The two are the ‘Gilbert & George’ of Belgian fashion: just like the British artist duo, they met on the first day of their training at the Antwerp Fashion Academy in September 1989. They have shared life and work ever since. Rizzo graduated in 1993, Vanderperre quit after a year because he was ‘better at mood boards, taking photos and collages than at designing a collection’. The West Flemish focused on photography, but he also gave up that training after two years, ‘because he could develop his own visual language more independently’.

Olivier Rizzo and Raf Simons – also a self-taught artist – met when they both interned with the Antwerp fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck. Vanderperre was already living with Rizzo when he first met Simons. ‘On the terrace of the Antwerp artist café Witzli-Poetzli more specifically. Olivier and Raf were having a drink in the shadow of the cathedral. I sat down, but didn’t say a word to Raf that evening. I just listened. The next day I knocked on his studio door, next to our door. We became friends ever since’, says Vanderperre. ‘Working with friends is different from shooting for a fashion brand. Because you understand each other so well, you only need a few words. He gave us complete creative freedom for his campaign images. In the name of our friendship I want to continue to surprise, create unexpected images, even provoke. I want to be the eternal art student who continues to look for new ways to photograph. “I’m not afraid of taking a bad photo,” he says. ‘The friendship with Raf transcends our fashion work. But our story is intertwined with Raf’s own brand, which he closed down in November 2022, after 27 years. A shame, because who translated adolescence and youth culture better than Raf into his own label? I don’t think anyone does.’

Outside the lines

The exhibition title also includes the word ‘rave’. And that suits Vanderperre perfectly: he experienced countless of them in his life. “There is actually a rave planned after the opening, so keep that evening free,” he laughs. Richie Hawtin will play at the pre-opening of Garage Klub, a new club in Antwerp. By the way, Hawtin is the only deejay who hangs at the exhibition and is in the book with his portrait. “I actually want the exhibition to emulate the feeling of a rave,” he says. As in: a glorification of youth and escapism. But also: an expression of raw creative energy. A sanctuary for creativity, rebellion and subversion. An ephemeral happening, where boundaries are explored and exceeded.

‘I was not born a Rockefeller. I did odd jobs in discos and made hamburgers at McDonald’s to earn extra money.’

Of course, ‘rave’ refers to Vanderperre’s own nightlife, in which he also liked to test the boundaries. Clubbing was an essential chapter in his ‘coming of age’. ‘I grew up in Menen, during the rise of the new beat and the big discos. I experienced wonderful moments in clubs such as Boccaccio, Fuse, Club 55, Café d’Anvers, At The Villa and the Catacombes. That period was very intense. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I still haven’t forgotten how to rave. And avant-garde electronic music still fascinates me just as much. I really like to live in the now, nostalgia is of no use to me.’

However, you are forced to be nostalgic when you have to put together a mid-career show. Just ask photographer Stephan Vanfleteren, who almost died when he had to dig through all his archives for his retrospective exhibition ‘Present’ in 2019. ‘Please don’t call it a retrospective exhibition. I’m still alive, I’m still working, I’m still far from finished,” says Vanderperre. ‘The exhibition and the book are not greatest hits. The synergy between me, Raf Simons and Olivier Rizzo is central. Plus our editorial work for fashion magazines.’

In concrete terms, this means that a number of images were excluded from the selection. Even portraits of world stars, such as rapper A$AP Rocky or actor and gay icon Joe Dallesandro.

Naomi Campbell, FKA Twigs, Dave Gahan, Kylie Minogue, Frank Ocean, Tilda Swinton, Yoko Ono, Michelle Williams, Gigi Hadid and Lara Stone: Vanderperre had them all in front of his lens for campaigns, portraits and editorials. ‘Throw all those most famous images together and you automatically have an exhibition that will deliver a wow effect. But I wanted to show a different angle on my work,” he says. ‘Some images no longer need validation. It is often more powerful to omit such an iconic image than to revive it for the umpteenth time. That is why we came up with a separate 20-minute video projection for all images that do not fit into the flow of the exhibition. For example, the commercial images, made on behalf of brands. That montage becomes a chaotic iconoclasm, like the billboards on Times Square in New York. A very intense viewing experience, which criss-crosses my oeuvre.’

Don’t his initial images such as ‘Robbie with Mickey Mouse face’ feel dated – 25 years later – now that he looks at them with today’s eyes? ‘No actually not. By the way, what does that mean, ‘dated’? That there is a date on it? Everything has its place in time. A good image represents a spirit of the times. As a fashion photographer you work in a cyclical industry that renews itself every six months. Fashion automatically dates. This way she stays young forever. And that pushes my creativity forward.’

Even though youth (sub)culture is still Vanderperre’s main source of inspiration, he is no longer one of the youngest. ‘I have no problem growing older. I will never have to look back on my life and say: I wish I had tried such and such earlier. I did it and I enjoyed it very much,” he says. ‘I don’t want to be young forever, but I remain interested in young people. I dare not claim that I understand youth, that would be an extremely pretentious statement for someone of 52. Youth does not understand youth itself. But she is the engine of change in the world. For me, young people are the most important people on earth. At my age I am honored that I can still work with so many young people, on set or in the studio. I come into contact with them almost every day. I talk to them, I am interested in their world. They see me as a father figure to whom they can tell anything. I don’t judge, I listen and absorb. And I process my impressions in my work, both photos, videos and films.’ After his experimental feature film ‘Heartlands’ from 2022, Vanderperre is currently focusing on a second film, although he is also working on free photographic work.

Vanderperre spent his own childhood in the West Flemish border municipality of Menen. A rough place with borderline crime and marginality. His parents were hardworking butchers, he an extrovert fashion fanatic in a Catholic school, looking for his place in the world. And it was clearly not in deep West Flanders, but in Antwerp. ‘I am not ashamed of my origins. I was not born a Rockefeller. I worked in nightclubs and made hamburgers at McDonald’s to earn extra money. At the age of nine I already knew that I wanted to do something artistic. First it was drawing school, later fashion school, because I was so crazy about the fashion of Jean Paul Gaultier and the Antwerp Six. I am grateful to my parents that they never forced me to become a butcher.’

‘Fashion was my way of shaping my identity and expressing myself. At the same time, it was my defense system against the harsh outside world. Now fashion is no longer an armor for me. I coincide with my look. If I feel like walking around in a skirt, I just do it. I don’t care about what people think about it.’

Not even now that society is turning right-wing and aggression towards gays, transgenders and other minorities is increasing? ‘I don’t want to diminish my individuality by any political outcome. I express myself as I am. I don’t want us to be afraid to show who we are. Anxious is really the last thing we need to be today. I like to use the platform that my work gives me to raise certain issues. I want to make my voice heard.’

He certainly does not want to be called a ‘political artist’. Vanderperre even has a hard time with the word ‘artist’. But his work is not without obligation at all. In ‘Heartlands’ – a raw ode to youth – he interweaved the Black Lives Matter movement into one of the young people’s storylines. In a recent American podcast, he openly spoke out against the restrictions on transgender people in a state like Texas. Vanderperre previously took a position on the Ukraine war. And for the exhibition he collaborated with çavaria, the Flemish advocate for LGBTI+ people.

‘As a photographer I want to commit myself. Fashion is anchored in society. It is an expression of the now, but with an eye to the future. I incorporate today’s world into my photos, videos and films. That’s my language. I want to use it to say something about the society of today and tomorrow. My work focuses on the future, not the past. I work in the now, but I strive for a better future.’

Willy Vanderperre, ‘Prints, films, a rave and more…’, from April 27 to August 4 at the Antwerp Fashion Museum, momu.be

The accompanying book has been published by Lannoo.