Bernhard Willhelm, since his solo debut in 1999, has become one of the most infuential of the designers to emerge in the wake of the 'Antwerp 6'. From 2001-2006 he collaborated with celebrated Dutch duo Freudenthal/Verhagen in the production of what is an incredibly unique series of presentations, which along with the work of Bless, Walter Van Beirendonck and Bernadette Corporation negated the fashion system and eschewed traditional notions of beauty in favour of a post modern approach to culture, dress and presentation which has as much in common with fine art practices and popular culture as it does with fashion- leaving a legacy that can be seen from Maurizio Cattelan's work with Permanent Food and Toilet Paper to numerous somewhat niche subcultures (sea punk/health goth/etc). Both Willhelm and Freudenthal/Verhagen have been the subject of numerous museum retrospectives, in addition to their works which are now permanently housed in both private and institutional collections.
