Brandon Wen and Amir Torres aren’t only friends and colleagues, they are also collaborators.
Wen grew up in LA and, like Torres, went on to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. Wen is following in Walter van Beirendonck’s footsteps, having been recently appointed as the creative director of the fashion department. Having discovered a passion for art during his fashion degree, Torres teaches fashion illustration. Together, they are the first non-European teachers of the school.
For hube, they created an exclusive performance that blurs professions, and the steps that go into building them. The meaning of the work will be established in the moment of performance, says Wen. We sat down with Wen and Torres to discuss all things performance, fashion, and Antwerp.
Nina: First of all, I am delighted to speak to you both today. Perhaps we could start by having you introduce yourselves to our readers?
Amir Torres: I am Amir Torres, I am from Mexico and I am currently the fashion illustration teacher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. I teach first and second year.
Brandon Wen: And I am Brandon. I am originally from Los Angeles, I am a designer and performance artist. I am also the creative director of the fashion department of the Royal Academy. I teach BA Fashion, third year.
N: What is it like coming back to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts after having been students here?
AT: It’s been strange, because I was literally studying here three months ago. Coming back on the other side of things is kind of crazy. It’s a bit more pleasant not being judged on everything. It’s strange to see your ex-teachers as colleagues. But there is also something very beautiful about it. You are watching students begin a journey that you travelled yourself, and you really want them to succeed.
BW: In a way, it is strange because it is the same place, but at the same time it’s totally not. You see the same building, you see the same walls, but you feel totally different. You see it differently. The other day, we had a moment with the students and the secretary said, “Brandon, I am leaving, you are the last one, don’t forget to lock up!” In my head, I was like, “what is she talking about? It’s just a bunch of students in this room,” but then I remembered that I am the teacher. You have these moments where you forget.
N: Could you tell us a bit about the performance piece you have created for hube? What does it look like and what is the message behind it?
BW: The work began with Amir and I having fun at one another’s apartments. One night, we hung out and started trying on each other’s clothes. It was a fun time, there was music and we took photos. Then we continued doing that. We took the photos and started creating little collages for fun. Recently, I did a project where we lined up suits. We photographed them, but I wanted to use the same kind of collaging technique that Amir and I had with our styling photos, and it turned out really well. So, the idea is to recreate that ase a performance—which is a hugely vague term that we use a lot. We will do the styling, take photos, collage those photos, and then take photos of the collages. A bunch of steps are involved, but the process is about us getting dressed. The meaning will come from what is happening in the moment.
N: Wonderful. What are you doing in the performance Amir?
AT: I am not involved in the performative part myself, but I will be collaging and working with the documentation of the performance. I am not a spotlight person, I prefer to be behind the scenes.
N: I understand that your performance aims to blur the lines between the different professions that go into the performance. Can you tell us a little bit more about this?
BW: When you are a young artist, trying to do your art, sometimes it’s very difficult because you get boxed into whatever your mediums are. You are ‘this’ or ‘that’. I don’t think art should be so defined. Sometimes, it’s really a struggle. When you know that you don’t fit into one thing, and that you are many things, how can you even talk about yourself? How do you have a conversation about something that is so specific and personal to you? One of the things that I discovered after studying, was that I loved the show aspect of fashion. And now there is a way to merge all of these elements. Amir and I have created this format because it combines all of these things. You have the performative aspect, where you can use your body and feel expressive, but then if we collide, there is a graphic element. And then, of course, the styling is the fashion element. At the end of the day, we call it a performance, but it’s really something of a fashion installation, with graphics and body. Performance is a nice title for doing the action.
N: I love that you started the performance by simply having fun in your flat. I am a big fan of performance within fashion. Do you think fashion today lacks an artistic aspect?
AT: Sometimes I feel that when you graduate, you are usually surrounded by a lot of people that studied painting, or graphics, or sculpture. And in the end, in a school like this one you are studying fashion. It’s never truly a corporate fashion course. It is always an artistically driven fashion course. So, when you finish fashion, sometimes you realise that you discovered other disciplines that you really like. For example, painting. I feel that sometimes people get very intimidated to go for it because they are not formally trained. I think that fashion houses are often too intimidated to venture into a more intellectual field, everyone is scared of others’ preconceptions. Towards the end of my MA, Brandon and I were talking about how everyone used to look up to McQueen and Galliano. That formed a generation of designers that were dreamers. Now, everyone dreams of being Demna. He is in the centre of the moment. Right now, Balenciaga is hyper-corporate, where everything becomes a product. Everybody wants to be like that. Nobody wants to be like McQueen or Galliano anymore.
BW: I fully agree. There are only a few brands that hold the thread and involve the arts in it. I think Rick Owens does it very well. It’s always very clear which designers are still affiliated with art. Karl Lagerfeld was obsessed with art.
N: Following your McQueen thought, I also read that you had thoughts on the fleetingness of a performance, yet the runway performances of Alexander McQueen live on forever. How do you think we can conserve something as precious as a performance?
BW: That is the question of this project. In a very realistic way, how do you monetise a performance that is fleeting? What is strange is that if you purchase a ticket, it becomes theatre. If it’s free, it remains performance art. One of the questions we need to ask is how we can preserve performance. How do you, other than with video, can keep a record of it? Part of the magic is just physically being there, but other than videos and word of mouth, I don’t know how many options we really have. Maybe there is no specific way to preserve it.
N: Definitely. What do you think of performance art on the runway in these extremely commercial times?
BW: Unfortunately, I have never seen a piece of performance art on a runway that I truly loved. In some ways, I am a bit of a purist. I love a fashion show where the models are walking, military style. There is a very specific power to that formula. Sometimes the performance aspect is a bit unnecessary. How do you take a fashion show and make a performance? I think it is when the performance aspect is part of that fashion formula and not an extra.
AT: Only when it truly comes from the heart of the designer and not the PR team. When the designer is really into what’s happening and it means something for the clothes and makes it something for them, I think then it becomes very magical and very cool.
N: I also saw your focus is on designing, building, and growing creative spaces. Could you elaborate on this?
BW: Authenticity is being you, knowing who you are as an artist and what you are trying to express. Creative space means a lot of things, but essentially it’s about creating space for yourself. It’s a physical space, but also a mental space in terms of knowing and fighting for your worth. When I left fashion school, it was either to do the thing everyone does, or do the thing I had always dreamt of. It has been an extremely fruitful path, but not one that was easy or obvious. You have to stop listening to the naysayers, and focus on who you are and what you want from yourself and your art.
N: What is it like being Walter van Beirendonck’s successor so soon after graduating from the Royal Academy?
BW: I am still figuring out a lot of things. One of the good things about the academy is how a lot of things were not so formalised, but that also made it easy. A lot of communications were informal, which is good, because that way it moves very quickly. A lot is communicated in the hallway. It feels organic. A lot of the people I work with are people I’ve stayed in touch with since I studied. It’s a challenge, for sure. But there is a lot of fun to it and a lot of it comes quite naturally.
N: You are the first non-European teachers of the school, could you tell us a bit more about that and the importance of diversity in education?
BW: It’s very simple. The teachers have always been mostly Belgian. There are always some people from Europe, but there weren’t any teachers from outside the EU. This was crazy, because in the end, it is such an international student body and the teaching staff need to reflect that. It is certainly important and that is what needs to be happening in the school.
AT: It’s part of having a high quality education. You have teachers that come from different places and it is a privilege as a student to have teachers that come from different ways of thinking. It is also very nourishing as a student to have a teacher who has lived a life totally different from yours.
N: In terms of teaching, is there anything you would like to change about the Royal Academy?
BW: I really respect the academy and love the heritage of the creativity. It has always been a school about extreme creativity, authenticity, and finding an artistic identity. That is what makes the graduates so strong. I think nowadays, what it means to be a fashion designer is very abstract. It’s always changing. I would like to work on what happens in that two- or three-year period after you finish school. It’s not really my domain, but I want to prepare people for what happens after in a better way. Years ago, you graduated from school with a job offer, but we don’t live in that world anymore. Realistically, you will spend two years searching for an interesting job here and there. Maybe you have to freelance for a while.
N: How would you describe the spirit of Antwerp?
BW: Antwerp is a nice European city. What is so special is that it is a really strong place for creativity. People here are very open-minded. You have the French art culture, which is very much based on tradition and France as a cultural powerhouse. And then you have Dutch tradition, which is all about newness. Belgium is in the middle of those two countries, and provides good balance. It has an art culture which is very aware of tradition, and aware of taste, but it is also hungry for new things. That makes being an artist here very special.
AT: In Antwerp, a lot of young people are showing in the galleries. Contrary to other cities, young people get a chance here. Or people rent a space together and set up a show. I think people actually buy art here. I remember when I first came here, I was renting a room in the apartment of a 40-year-old woman, who worked as a receptionist in a museum. She wasn’t connected to art, but she has all these beautiful paintings on her walls that she had bought from local artists. In Mexico, an adult person would only have -waiting room art on their walls. In general, Antwerp is very forgiving. It’s not cruel or fast-paced.
N: My last question is what is the best piece of advice that you give to your students?
BW: A lot of my students already have all the tools they need. It is just about honing their confidence. They are strong enough to go out there and do their own thing. That is really inspiring and exciting at the same time.
AT: Brandon teaches the students in third year, so his advice is about after school. I teach them at the beginning, so mine is about inside school. People come here with super high expectations, thinking they have to become a very serious fashion person. That is very stupid, because it is a huge privilege to be here. It is a privilege to study fashion. It is a luxury that not a lot of people can afford. I would tell them to have fun, because it is rare to encounter an opportunity after school where you can be this free. It sounds sad, but it’s true. At this moment, I always tell them that is one of the only times that you don’t have to answer like a boss. You can answer like a customer. We are in this space where I am truly giving everything of myself. Cherish this moment.
Words by NINA MARIA
Creative Direction by BRANDON WEN and AMIR TORRES
Photography by KAJOL SINGH
This is an excerpt from an article published in the first issue of hube magazine. For the full experience, you can buy a copy here.
