Alphabet Soup, by Angelique Westerhof

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Beginning a new magazine with an ‘A’ inevitably prompted much word play, so when Dirk Van Saene, Walter Van Beirendonck, Gerdi Esch and their collaborators constructed NºA, there was much linguistic fun to be had.

With this in mind, the director of the Arnhem Fashion Institute, Angelique Westerhof, took the proposed A, B, C, D… concept for a real joyride, for her piece “Alphabet Soup”. Constructing five acrostic poems of the alphabet, Angelique chose names and concepts each pertaining to the spirit of Antwerp fashion – from Dirk’s world and the people and ideals within it.

Some you will know and recognise immediately (there is only one Martin, no?) but others are more cryptic and askew, such as the references to the Orthodox Jewish culture in Antwerp, with their Yarmulkas (skullcaps) and the Yom kippur (religious fasting holiday). Other words are rather ambiguous and vague, but help to paint a picture of the atmosphere of the fashion community, with their common inspirations and aspirations.

Rather than explaining all 130 of Angelique’s choices, we suggest a rather more organic and exciting challenge – to piece together the puzzle yourself. With the help of a few queues from us, play with the cerebral links between the words, to allow yourself to arrive at your own vision of this intriguing word map. Push the boundaries of your knowledge to further explore the ‘A’ world.

Anarchist
Beyond
Craft
Dream
Experiment
Future
Genuine
Hidden
Innovative
Juxtapositions
Knowledge
Linda (Loppa)
Magazine
Nationality
Orthodox
Perseverance
Questioning
Radical
Sensuality
Tradition
Underground
Values
Walter (Van Beirendonck)
Xenophobia

Ann (Demeulemeester)
Bourgeois
Change
Dirk (Van Saene)
Emotive
Fashion
Generations
Homogenous
Incubation
Jurgi (Persoons)
Kickstarters
Labour
Majestic
New
Originality
Patrick (Scallon)
Quality
Research
Severe
Tuition
Uncover
Victorious
Wonderment
XI
Yom Kippur
Zone

Aloof
Boundless
Concrete
Desire
Escapism
Family
Gerdi (Esch)
Hierarchy
Integrity
Jointly
Kaleidoscopic
Liberation
Manufacture
Nico
Obscurity
Principles
Qualification
Raf (Simons)
Shy
Timeless
Unprecedented
Visionary
Wild
seXappeal
Yin
Zany

Alert
Bernhard (Willhelm)
Captivating
Diffusion
Ellen
Funloving
Global
Honorable
Inspire
Jubilation
Kindness
Luminous
Make
Natural
Outspoken
Provocative
Quietude
Romanticism
Statements
Torment
Uncompromising
Verve
Window
arickX
Yee (Marina)
Zen

Absolute
Belief
Chris
Dries (Van Noten)
Eclectic
Fever
Genius
Humour
Intuitive
Jobs
Kissable
Loving
Martin (Margiela)
Now
Personality
Quantity
Reward
Spell
Transform
Unique
Veronique (Branquinho)
Winner
X-Ray
Yearn
Zoom