A Letter to the Royal Academy

By Neslihan

Dear Academy,
Before you end your 50th birthday, I'd like to tell you a thing or two. You've been celebrating your glorious birthday which was filled with appreciation, inspiration and aspiration. Something like: "We've been doing well but we'd like to do better in the future." You've had Ackermann and Van Noten as your pupils and now they've all reached that point in which they could teach YOU a couple things. You're seen as this unaccessible ice queen who has shot herself in this fireproof iron tower and this reputation is most likely accurate. You're an institution, a royal household even (hence Royal Academy). You produce the fashion elite in this country and even beyond since we're 8th in the 'Top 50 Fashion Schools in the World' ranking. Do you even know what that means? It means, you, dear Academy, have gained the monopoly over fashion designing. Not bad for a country as big as Louis XIV 's backyard. (This one is total exaggeration but I'm tryina make a sketch for you *wink*) And during your birthday you've had uncountable eulogies, including an amazing retrospective looking back on your iconic history. And it is worth a retrospective, I must say. But here is the actual reason of my blogging. I've had a quite emotional conversation with this girl, who studied fashion design at KASK (your little brother in Ghent) but after a time she had had a couple of bad experiences in her private life and she had to quit studying because she was suffering from a total inspiration block. She had to put everything in order before she could start designing again. She put her aspiration on hold and decided to study Art History. This is completely theoretical and this doesn't entirely feed her aesthetics. She's constantly drowning in inspiration again but she can't live it up. Because it's too expensive, too cold and too exhausting to start all over again. And we all know how exclusive those academies are. She also told me about the amount of foreign designers in such academies and I think that's a pity. Because whe should be focussing on our own talents, who are truly waiting to be discovered. The Royal Academy and every other Fashion Academy should be a platform for young starting designers who want to add something to the fashion world. What they're suffering now is constant unappreciation and rejection. We should open our arms and educate them because they've got so much to show us. Artists who are studying to actually become one (this sounds so weird) have always encountered difficulties in terms of funding and scholarships. Let me explain. Take a history student for example, she's applying for a scholarship and she could easily get one. But when it comes to designers they have to have their own funds. Everything they invest comes from their own savings. I don't know whether we have funds here in Belgium for studying artists, there is so much ambiguity surrounding the topic. And I'd like to know more about it as I'll keep my eyes on you, dear Academy.
Happy birthday once more.

For the retrospective: http://www.momu.be/tentoonstellingen/nu_in_het_momu/
For more info: http://hbda.be/new/nl/activiteiten/antwerp-icons

PS I know how cliché this Antwerp Six picture is but it's so great.
PPS I'm sorry for the unstructured rambling.