THE BELGIANS - Visitor's guide

centre for fine arts brussels

EXPO

THE belgIANS AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY 5 JUNe — 13 SEPT. ’15 visitor’s guide

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Palais des Beaux-Arts Bruxelles Paleis voor Schone Kunsten Brussel

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

THE BELGIANS AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

INTRODUCTION

An exhibition about Belgian fashion? Is there so much to say on the subject? Before fashion there was clothing. Our relationship with clothes is almost as old as the human race. Fashion is another story altogether.

For a long time fashion was the preserve of dedicated institutes and museums that took a scholarly approach to the subject and showcased style and aesthetics. But as well as serving a functional purpose, fashion illustrates the evolution of society, its culture and its political situation.

Since the end of the twentieth century fashion has increasingly become a subject of contemporary art.

An exhibition about Belgian fashion was long overdue. The numerous large fashion exhibitions taking place in so many cities show that fashion is in fashion. This exhibition presents an overview of the incredible distance Belgian designers have covered in the last century. The Belgians.

An unexpected fashion story comes at a turning point in the history of Belgian fashion. ‘Our’ fashion has come of age. Its family tree includes numerous symbolic changes, from the pioneers and the avant-garde to the fashion academies, the international breakthrough and the talented young designers. This retrospective exhibition takes a look at this fascinating subject. Long live Belgian fashion!

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Anonymous, Girdle ca. 1914

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

HERITAGE: A SURREAL TRIBUTE Belgium is a country that is constantly reinventing itself. Even before the birth of the kingdom of Belgium in 1830, needle and thread crafts were important. From tapestries to lacework in the sixteenth century, from industrialization in the nineteenth century to its modernization in the twentieth century, Belgium’s indisputable knowhow has made it a leading textile manufacturer. The country is also an outstanding exemplar of nonconformist surrealism. Combine that absurd and highly imaginative movement with the craftsmanship and technical expertise of the Belgians and the result is extraordinary. Hierarchy is replaced by anarchy and subcultures come to occupy a prominent place. Thus folkloric traditions are respected and re-evaluated, from the North Sea mussels to the Gilles de Binche costumes.

The 1958 World Fair was a benchmark which assured the Belgians of a future place in fashion, not only because of their aesthetic tours de force, but also because they embodied a freedom that embraced the new generation. Together with the arrival of prêt-à-porter, the need for a fashion culture and the emergence of new lifestyles, this heralded the birth of Belgian fashion. Belgium became a cultural crossroads where individual art could thrive.

Gouden Spoel, awarded to Ann Demeulemeester, 1982 In 1982 the humble sewing machine bobbin became a highly coveted award among young designers. Until 1991 it was the main prize in the Gouden Spoel (Golden Bobbin) competition, introduced to make clothing manufacturers aware of the wealth of creative talent in Belgium.

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Designers Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Van Saene and Dirk Bikkembergs won the first three editions. The prize symbolizes the beginning of Belgian fashion and we have the government to thank for that. In 1981 the Ministry of Economic Affairs launched the Textile Plan, designed to restore health and creativity to the sector. The Belgian Textile and Clothing Institute (ITCB) was responsible for the creative aspect of that plan and came up with the slogan ‘Mode, dit is Belgisch’/ ‘Mode, c’est Belge’.

Anonymous, Patriotic corset, ca. 1914 A Brussels corsetière had a clear purpose in mind when designing this Belgian tricolour, satin corset with silk trim. Instead of wearing it under layers of material, she proudly displayed it in her shop window during the First World War. Several years later corsets came to symbolize the repression of women. This corset also stood for independence and freedom.

Christophe Coppens, Deer Cape from Dream Your Dream, autumn -winter 2005-2006 Designer Christophe Coppens’ creations seamlessly merge fashion and art, as exemplified by his Deer Cape, designed for the Dream Your Dream autumn-winter collection in 2005. The title can be taken literally. The model is wearing a checked deer on her shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world! A matching hood with horns in the same material brings about a symbiosis between model and animal.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Portrait Honorine Deschryver - Maison Norine - Le Signal Portrait Honorine Deschryver and Paul Gustave Van Hecke

by Frits Van Den Berghe - 1924 - copyright KASKA

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

MAISON NORINE: FASHIONABLY EARLY Between 1915 and 1952 Norine couture on Avenue Louise in Brussels was run by Honorine Deschryver and Paul Gustave Van Hecke, figureheads of the avantgarde in Belgium, both in art and fashion.

This eccentric couple shared not only life’s joys and sorrows, but also a passion for expressionism and surrealism. They built up a private collection of works by contemporary international artists such as Frits Van den Berghe, Raoul Dufy, Max Ernst, Man Ray – and above all - René Magritte. As well as being their friends, some of these artists even collaborated with the couture house. At a time when Paris dominated fashion, for many years Honorine Deschryver and Paul-Gustave van Hecke were the only ones to give their enlightened creations high-art status by drawing inspiration from modern art. The concept of ‘Belgian fashion’ originated on Norine’s drawing tables.

Frits Van den Berghe, Double portrait of Paul Gustave Van Hecke and Honorine Deschryver, 1924 This double portrait beautifully captures the Van Hecke-Deschryver couple. The slender and elegant Norine sits in the foreground, the robust Van Hecke next to her. The very personification of the ‘new woman’ of the twenties, Norine has short hair, rouged cheeks and red lips. Her dress decorated with art-deco motifs is most certainly her own design. Flemish artist Van den Berghe added a cat and an elephant in the background. Norine and the cat are lit up against the colossal, black background. The black form which appears behind Van Hecke resembles a devil’s tail.

On the far left we catch a glimpse of a seductive, naked woman, Van den Berghe’s

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veiled reference to his patrons’ decadent lifestyle. They are paragons of the liberated woman and the self-made man.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Antwerp Six 1986 © Karel Fonteyne 1986 Dries Van Noten, SS 2005 © Etienne Tordoir

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

NEW STYLES: BEGINNINGS AND AVANT-GARDE On show in this gallery are designs by Belgian fashion designers whose avantgarde ideas earned them a place in international fashion. We begin with Yvette Lauwaert from Ghent and Ann Saelens from Antwerp. While Lauwaert caused a furore with haute couture in her GY Store at the end of the sixties, Saelens’ crocheted, fringed garments and provocative fashion shows attracted attention. The most recent silhouette is by designer Cédric Charlier who launched his own label in 2012. A whole evolution – indeed revolution – lies between Lauwaert and Charlier. In the 1980s the fashion focus was on Italy and France. Belgian fashion was not yet synonymous with creativity, though we did excel at craftsmanship. Illustrious pioneers who made their voices heard included Nina Meert and Maggy Baum.

1981 saw the launch of the Textile Plan, which was designed to breathe new life into the declining textile sector. The Belgian Textile and Clothing Institute (ITCB) and the unquestioning commitment of its chairman Helena Ravijst led to the slogan ‘Mode, dit is Belgisch’/ ‘Mode, c’est Belge’. The Gouden Spoel competition was launched to give creative talent like Ann Demeulemeester, Marina Yee, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dirk Van Saene, Walter Van Beirendonck and Dries Van Noten the chance to collaborate with the industry and design their own collection. Having had their first taste of success as the ‘Antwerp Six’ at the British Designer Show in London in the mid-1980s, each headed for Paris, separately. Martin Margiela was already there causing a furore with his innovative fashion shows. In the 1990s they sent shock waves through the fashion world with their cutting-edge designs and paved the way for new names like Veronique 09

Leroy, Annemie Verbeke, Jurgi Persoons, Veronique Branquinho, Raf Simons and Haider Ackermann. Designers like Tim Van Steenbergen, Christian Wijnants and Peter Pilotto, who made their début later on, also shared in the success of the Belgian school.

In barely three decades Belgian fashion had acquired an identity of its own, not least because of the diversity of the many designers.

Maggy Baum, dress designed for the Aiguille d’Or competition, 1977 Born in the textile town of Verviers, Maggy Baum grew accustomed in childhood to the rhythmic sounds of industrial machinery. When the textile industry petered out in the 1960s, she started her own workshop and clothing line. This was a highly risky venture, not least because her technique was unprecedented. Her woollen creations combined the best of two worlds: craftsmanship and creativity.

This silhouette dates from 1977 and was remade for the exhibition Les années 80: l’essor d’une mode belge / De jaren tachtig. De opbloei van de Belgische mode at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels in 1997.

A.F. Vandevorst, autumn-winter 1998-1999 A.F. Vandevorst - or simply A.F. to insiders - stands for An Vandevorst and Filip Arickx, the husband and wife design duo. They met while studying at Antwerp fashion academy and in 1997 launched their own label. A.F. has since also stood for the world of Joseph Beuys, pre-war hospital equipment, the Red Cross, uniforms, felt and leather. You see that in this silhouette with a khaki-green jacket, nipped in at the waist with a leather belt, including saddle, with which they opened their first fashion show in Paris. The design is at once disconcerting, brutal and soft.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Raf Simons SS 1998 © Ronald Stoops

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, “Well Basically Basuco is Coke Mixed with Kerosene…” for Véronique Leroy, The Face, April, 1994 The most striking and colourful image in this space is the photograph by photographers Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin for the designer Véronique Leroy. Two bronzed, blond babes sit astride their racing bikes enjoying an ice lolly while in the background a rocket shoots into the air. Suggestive, sexy and glamorous are not words normally used to describe the Belgians. The smoke, the bright colours, the skin-coloured tights, everything is over the top. From her perfectly shaped and brightly coloured designs to her campaign photographs, the work of Véronique Leroy is often tongue-in-cheek.

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Diane von Furstenberg © Cici Olsson

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

PORTRAITS: FROM ME TO YOU Belgian fashion designers live and breathe their designs. Think, for example, of Diane von Furstenberg’s ultra-feminine wrap dress, Walter Van Beirendonck’s provocative creations, the almost tangible sensibility of Olivier Theyskens’ dresses, and Elvis Pompilio’s eccentric hats. Some designers have a physical - you might even say ‘narcissistic’- relationship with their work, but then in the best sense of the word. You can almost read their collections like a biography. Their personality is reflected in the colours, the prints, the cut and the way they interpret fashion.

They express their outlook on life in their designs and stamp their collections with a recognizable individuality. Their interpretation is unconstrained by convention, rarely classical. For years Ann Demeulemeester, who recently put a new team at the helm of her own brand, expressed her personality in her collections. Her identity was inextricably bound up with her name and label.

Walter Van Beirendonck, Silhouette from “Warning: Explicit Beauty”, autumn-winter 2015 In January 2015 a model strutted up the catwalk in Paris wearing this jumper which looks like a cubist collage in pop-art colours. It is a portrait of Dirk Van Saene, designed by Walter Van Beirendonck.

Walter and Dirk have been a couple since their student days at the academy at the end of the 1970s. From his first collections the tough-looking, but sensitive Van Beirendonck has presented fashion with a social message. For the coming winter that is “Warning: Explicit Beauty”, beauty as the counterweight to the violence we have been confronted with in recent times. Several weeks before the fashion 013

show, Paris was outraged by the massacre staged at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine. Van Beirendonck reacted immediately. The slogan “Stop Terrorizing our World” appeared on one of his tops.

Diane von Furstenberg, Wrap Dress The designer Diane von Furstenberg was born in Brussels. In 1970 she moved to the United States of America where she effortlessly alternated wild nights at Studio 54 with designing clothes for the working woman. In 1974 she created this wrap dress, characterized by graphic prints and self-tie belt, which became an icon and part of the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Celebrities like Jacky Kennedy helped make this signature dress legendary and women around the globe snapped it up.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Manon K端ndig - collection 2012 (2)

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

LABORATORIES: WHEN ARTISTRY MEETS INDUSTRY You have to look hard to find a Belgian designer who has not trained at one of our fashion schools. The most celebrated institutions are the fashion department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts – AP Antwerpen, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels - La Cambre, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent, the Stedelijke academie voor Schone Kunsten (SASK) in Sint Niklaas and IFAPME Château Massart in Liège. Alumni still refer to their training with great pride. Some, like Walter Van Beirendonck and Marina Yee, are still attached to one of the academies.

Young people even from far-flung corners of the world flock to Belgium for the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the Belgian designers. There is far more to a course than ‘fashion training’ because each student is also introduced to other applied arts. Teachers at Belgian schools believe a crossover with artistic disciplines is essential for a young fashion designer’s personal development. Budding designers learn about the past so as to change the present. This, along with the personal approach of the teachers, contributes to the avant-garde style of Belgian designers.

Students are encouraged to develop a signature and vocabulary of their own.

Billie Mertens, Graduation silhouette La Cambre, 1992. Gold medal, Hyères, 1992 “Why should fabric always be used to create a design? Couldn’t a sophisticated coat be made out of beach mats?”

This surprising but legitimate question was asked by designer Billie Mertens.

Her answer was breathtakingly beautiful and it won her the gold medal at the seventh edition of the prestigious Festival International de Mode et de la 015

Photographie in Hyères in the South of France. She made a copy of the dress for the festival’s twentieth birthday.

Carine Lauwers, Copper dress, 1991 This silhouette was designed for the Aguille d’Or in 1991, an international competition for newly-graduated designers. Within the set theme of ‘Flowers’, Château Massart award-winner Carine Lauwers dared to present this copper dress. At first glance the technique puts one in mind of Paco Rabanne’s 1960s designs: small aluminium plates held together with brass wire.

Whereas Rabanne designed a mechanical and futuristic dress, Lauwers wanted to preserve the natural forms of the body. The little copper petals are organic in form and fall supply around the body.

Manon Kündig, Graduation silhouette, Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, 2012 Having graduated from the Royal Academy in Antwerp in 2012, Manon Kündig immediately attracted attention with her digital prints and bright colours. The young, Swiss-born designer uses recognizable and humorous images from pop culture, the result of long nights spent on Google Images. Yet there is something uncanny about this silhouette. Not a single part of the body is visible. The silhouette shouts for attention, but doesn’t reveal the identity of the ever-anonymous wearer.

Her humour verges on sarcasm and her apparent penchant for pop culture is part of a study into the nature of humankind.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Martin Margiela SS1991 © Ronald Stoops

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

MARTIN MARGIELA This gallery makes a special mention of designer Martin Margiela and that is no accident. His workshop is housed in an old school in Paris and many designers regard him as a teacher. He deliberately cultivates his anonymity by keeping a low profile and pushing his white-aproned team of assistants to the fore. Margiela has made his fashion house a laboratory for new ideas. He experiments with formulas to transform and deconstruct existing cuts in every collection to arrive at new creations. Think of the many variations of the ‘oversized silhouette’, the trompe l’oeil print and the upcycling process.

He analyzes every possible fashion reference, reinterpreting it to give it his own distinctive signature: the stitching on the back, a jacket made from a traditional Stockman tailor’s dummy or the iconic Tabi boots.

Maison Martin Margiela, Tabi boots The now iconic Tabi boots with round heel and split toe, inspired by the Japanese Tabi socks, were even part of Maison Martin Margiela’s very first collection back in 1988.

Before hitting the catwalk, the models dipped their Tabis in red paint, leaving red marks on the runway and thereafter an indelible mark on the fashion world.

In Plexiglas or cork, with or without heel, the design returns over and over again in the oeuvre of Maison Martin Margiela, like a blank canvas for new ideas. A modern classic.

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Jean-Paul Lespagnard portrait

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

VOCABULARY: SINGULARITY AS TRADEMARK Season after season the Belgian designers can be relied upon to provide a sensory experience. In every collection they create a world of their own and a recognizable universe. Starting with his very first collection each designer develops a characteristic code which experts immediately understand and read. Apart from the clothes and accessories, the designers are also closely involved in every aspect of communication: from the interior of their store to the invitations and set for their fashion shows.

The five show-boxes in this gallery plunge visitors into the world of several fashion designers, all of whom have developed their own lexicon. So we have Raf Simons’ ode to subculture, A.F. Vandevorst’s Red Cross and hospital bed, Edouard Vermeulen’s luxury and royal credentials, Jean-Paul Lespagnard’s nod to the popular and folklore culture and Dries Van Noten’s dreamy and sophisticated fashion shows.

Raf Simons

Raf Simons’ collections are always an ode to subculture and the underground scene.

Sleeveless tops and wide trouser legs, graphic prints and futuristic materials.

Simons’ designs are young, energetic and daring, and should never be taken for granted!

A.F. Vandevorst

This creative duo has a tendency to eschew all but the most muted tones. Green, grey and beige evoke associations with military and hospital life. Red, in the form of a cross, is the exception that proves the rule.

Natan

Though devoid of extravagance and decadence, Edouard Vermeulen is king of Belgian couture. His one objective when 019

he took over Natan in 1983 was to design authentic and affordable luxury. The result is a sumptuous style using luxuriant fabrics and rich colours, and an equally royal clientele.

Jean-Paul Lespagnard

This down-to-earth designer from Liège does not shun popular culture or folklore.

Lespagnard’s eclectic collections consist of a hypermodern hodgepodge: Gilles de Binche hats, basketball uniforms and biker jackets. His inspiration for his 2012 ‘Savoir Faire’ collection also came from a surprising quarter: the craft and authenticity of Dierendonck the butcher’s.

Dries Van Noten

Gold, glitter and glamour. Dries Van Noten shows that they do need to be a fashion faux pas. He knows better than anyone how to touch and challenge the borders between art and kitsch. Combine his style with surprising graphic prints and superb cuts and you end up with stunningly beautiful collections in which time stands still.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

McBeth by Tim van Steenbergen © Koen Broos

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

LOVE STORY: FASHION IS ART To Belgian fashion designers art is sacrosanct. As we have seen, they are given a taste of other art disciplines during their course, so it is only natural that afterwards they like to make excursions into other fields. In an eclectic manner the Belgian designers strive for a Gesamtkunstwerk and this is externalized in different ways. They explore our cultural heritage, provide costumes for theatre and dance performances at home and abroad and collaborate with contemporary artists. Ann Demeulemeester gave the statue of Our Lady of Succour and Victory in St Andrew’s Church in Antwerp a makeover, Raf Simons worked in tandem with the American artist Sterling Ruby, while choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker has turned to Dries Van Noten for costumes for her dancers on more than one occasion. A fruitful dialogue has always existed, even if it is the actual designs that do most of the talking.

Ann Demeulemeester, Gown after the one worn by Our Lady of Succour and Victory (c 16), St Andrew’s Church, Antwerp, 2001 During Belgium’s Fashion Year in 2001, Rudi Mannaerts, priest at St Andrew’s Church Antwerp, telephoned designer Ann Demeulemeester asking if she would like to give “his ladylove” a makeover, because she looked so old-fashioned. The designer agreed. “It was not a statue any more, but a woman and I made her beautiful. When I came down from the ladder, I thought with satisfaction: ‘There, I’ve done a good job’.” Demeulemeester still regularly visits St Andrew’s Church to wash the dress and freshen the feathers.

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Marina Yee, Sleeve designed for Anthony Van Dyck Year, Antwerp, 1999 This gallery contains a large glass aquarium. Floating in the water is a piece of white material attached to a brush.

Look more closely and you recognize a sleeve. Only the trained eye understands the historical reference. The garment is a replica of a sixteenth-century version made

by Marina Yee for the 400th anniversary of the Flemish baroque painter Anthony Van Dyck. The medium is the item of clothing, represented in a very abstract way.

Regardless of the form Yee’s ideas take, she - like the painter - is an artist.

Tim Van Steenbergen, Silhouette from Romeo and Juliet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, 2014 Tim Van Steenbergen is impossible to pigeonhole. He is a fashion designer but also costume designer, furniture designer, artist and graphic artist. A preference for unusual materials runs like a thread through his work. He incorporated renaissance paintings and drawings into the costumes for the ballerinas in Romeo and Juliet. The long train challenged the dancers. Van Steenbergen shows that fashion can also play a narrative role, even if all eyes are on Juliet’s enchanting dress, seen here.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Carine Gilson for James Bond - Skyfall

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

LIMITLESS: TO THE STARS The Belgians have come a long way.

Achieving international success was no sinecure. Gradually they shook off the label of underdog and now it would be impossible to imagine the international fashion world without them. Their latest fashion shows were once again must-see events. In recent years distinguished couture houses and multinationals have discovered the Belgian designers too.

And their own brands have become international fashion houses like that of Dries Van Noten. Many a luxury fashion house has a Belgian creative director at its helm, like Raf Simons at Dior and Kris Van Assche at Dior Homme. The word ‘Belgian’ is now a much-used prefix and far more than a geographic demarcation. Their secret? An admirable determination and focus on their craft, while always keeping their finger on the pulse of the everchanging zeitgeist. And all without giving themselves airs and graces.

Carine Gilson, Gown worn in the James Bond film Skyfall, spring-summer 2011 What distinguishes Carine Gilson from other Belgian designers and accounts for her world-wide acclaim is that both she and her designs embody pure glamour and embrace a sensual femininity. The icing on the cake was the appearance of actress Bérénice Marlohe wearing a gown by Gilson in a scene in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall. The gown, made by hand in the manner of haute couture, is of fine, creamcoloured silk which follows the contours of the female body. Black Chantilly lace with a flower pattern adds an extra touch of romance.

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Olivier Theyskens for Rochas, Evening gown, autumn-winter 2003-2004 Olivier Theyskens is one of the few Belgians who has managed to make his way in the international fashion world without a diploma, having quit his studies at La Cambre in Brussels after two years.

He could already number Jennifer Aniston, Madonna and Nicole Kidman among his clients when he debuted his first collection for the French fashion house Rochas. According to Style.com, the 2003 autumn-winter show was “nothing short of magnificent”. This layered evening gown in printed taffeta, decorated with machinemade Chantilly lace is characteristic of Theyskens’ approach. The sculptural volumes and haute couture materials reflect his modernity and respect for the past - a combination also found in his own collection around the year 2000.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Jan-Jan Van Essche © Koen de Waal

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

WORTHWHILE: THE END OF THE WASTE Words like ‘ecology’ and ‘sustainability’ are bandied around, but often with no specific application. For decades fashion lived off a flourishing economy and voracious mass consumption. Designers have since been forced to rethink their metier. At the end of the 1980s Martin Margiela was the first in Europe to make recycling a fashion phenomenon. By upgrading waste to raw material for his designs, he augmented it into an object of higher status than the original. Belgian designers are conscientious and self-confident enough to reflect on the future of fashion, without setting themselves up as starry-eyed idealists.

They refuse to compromise on creativity, but seize opportunities to combine it with sustainability. Jan-Jan Van Essche, Katrien Van Hecke, Eric Beauduin and Bruno Pieters (honest by.) make use of innovative techniques, sustainable fabrics and novel designs and are transparent vis-à-vis the consumer. This gallery voices today’s dilemmas and tomorrow’s challenges.

Eric Beauduin This surrealistic installation shows a woman buried under a leather bag. Like her, our society sometimes seems to be drowning in a surfeit of clothing and it is from that surfeit that designer Eric Beauduin derives his creations. In his boutique cum atelier in Brussels, he collects vintage leather and reuses the material to make limitededition bags. He finds something beautiful in what is worn-out and makes something functional from what has been discarded.

Note in particular the way details from the jackets (pockets, etc.) return in the bag. Beauduin combines humour and craftsmanship to give established structures a twist.

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Bruno Pieters and Mats Rombaut for honest by., spring-summer 2015 Bruno Pieters was conscious of the ecological changes taking place in the world when he made a striking comeback to the world of fashion in January 2012. His years as art director of Hugo by Hugo Boss seemed a long way off when he presented the new online platform honest by. Pieters believes in transparency and an honest by. acquisition comes with full credentials.

For example, we know that this matelassé dress was made in Belgium using recycled materials and that the European materials are organic, vegan and anti-allergic. Pieters designed the ethically-sourced shoes with Mats Rombaut, one of the other designers in the Honest By collective. The goat-wool socks image so often associated with ecological fashion, has never seemed such a long way off either.

THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

Filles à Papa FW2013 COLLECTION YES SIR © Gregory Derkenne

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

NOUVELLE VAGUE: NEXT GENERATION We end with the new generation of Belgian designers. They ‘resemble’ their predecessors, but regard themselves as anything but ‘followers’. In these times when trend watchers claim that fashion is dead, designers have no alternative but to regenerate fashion. What do they have to lose? They self-confidently set about looking for a voice of their own. They form collectives or go solo, often with a Belgian diploma under their belt. With the help of fashion professionals, MAD Brussels – the Centre for Fashion and Design – selected twelve young Belgian designers and gave them carte blanche to present their creations. They are figureheads of an international generation and the new face of Belgian fashion.

Filles à Papa, Whitewashed Collection, autumn-winter 2015-2016 Filles à Papa is not a brand but an attitude.

You don’t buy it, you are it. Sisters Carol and Sarah Piron manage to touch just the right chord with women NOW. Their cheeky slogans carry a rebellious undertone and Filles à Papa experiments lackadaisically with sequins, holes and tears, piercings and even underarm hair.

The sisters draw inspiration not from their hometown of Liège, but from overseas.

Denim plays the lead role in this silhouette, which cheerfully chants provocative slogans.

Capara, Ensemble from I Am In The Moment, shoes in association with Camper, autumn-winter 2015-2016 Twin sisters Olivera and Vera Capara were born in Bosnia-Herzegovina and grew up in Germany. On launching their label in Antwerp in 2009, their goal was to 027

experiment with and search for new shapes and proportions within recognizable garments. From a distance it looks as if the unusual combination of short bomber jacket and sleeveless blazer merge into a new form. This trompe l’oeil effect is heightened by the inwoven graphic play of colours inspired by the photographs of Dutch artist Viviane Sassen.

Vêtements, Ensemble, autumn-winter 2015-2016 You recognize the girl in these clothes though you have never met her before.

You imagine where she spends her nights, you wonder who she hangs out with. The designer created not only a risqué look, but a story with characters. A heavy oversized Perfecto, the boyfriend sweater and eyecatching boots with a nod to the seventies.

Yet a few transitory fashion trends are not enough to describe this silhouette.

Demna Gvasalia is an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and created an attitude, a character and above all: vêtements.

epilogue

An intimate couple Fashion and art are an intimate couple, and in the lively Brussels of the 1920s and 30s that couple had a name: Honorine Deschryver and Paul-Gustave Van Hecke, the driving force behind the fashion house Norine. It was the first Belgian fashion house that didn’t look to Paris for its inspiration. In the pioneering years of the Centre for Fine Arts Belgian fashion was given its own identity and the couple began to merge the boundaries between fashion and art. With his organisation L’Art vivant, fashion designer Van Hecke organised exhibitions in the newly opened Centre for Fine Arts and in 1932 Maison Norine held a fashion show there.

Fashion & Art. This was also the title of the prominent exhibition that was held in the Centre for Fine Arts in 1995. Jean Paul Gaultier, John Galliano and Yohji Yamamoto shared the exhibition halls with Andy Warhol, Christo and Gilbert & George. Fashion & Art set the tone. These days fashion takes up an increasingly large chunk of the exhibition calendar, as it does in art galleries. Twenty years after Fashion & Art, BOZAR and MAD Brussels are placing the recent history of Belgian fashion in the limelight. In the past two decades the Belgian fashion landscape has changed beyond recognition. This exhibition gives a platform to 75 designers.

That says a lot about how much things have evolved since Martin Margiela and the Antwerp Six. The Belgians tells a tale of success, charisma and determination.

This central exhibition forms the basis for a Summer of Fashion which spreads out as far as the shops and studios on Rue Dansaert.

This summer fashion and art once again form an intimate couple at BOZAR, with a combined total of 9 exhibitions. Pascale Marthine Tayou is our artist in residence.

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Boomerang refers to the result of our human activity, which could come spinning right back to hit us in the face. Tayou takes our side in this. He isn’t an activist and doesn’t want to make us feel guilty, as though art were some kind of indictment.

His extrovert art is more about making positive connections between the inside and outside world, between the individual and society. Saison d’amour, his new series of works, has been created especially for Brussels; in it he recycles pieces of fabric –primarily belonging to his wife, the fashion designer Jo De Visscher - which have already led a life of their own. Now there’s another couple of lovebirds...

Just like visual artists fashion designers are very conscious of the world in which they live. Items of clothing don’t just embody personality. They also speak of social commitment. In The Belgians designers such as Bruno Pieters and Jan-Jan Van Essche bear witness to this realisation under the umbrella term ‘Worthwhile. The End of the Waste’: honest materials, a smaller ecological footprint and transparent working conditions. Or as Bruno Pieters put it: “We believe that fashion is about beauty, and that the story behind it can be just as beautiful”. As an industry fashion can really make the difference.

Tickets & info

COMBITICKETS

COMBI SUMMER (The Belgians + Pascale Marthine Tayou + Young Belgian Art Prize15): € 16 – 14 (BOZARfriends)

Catalogue

THE BELGIANS. A History of Belgian Fashion + Pascale Marthine Tayou (BOZARfriends)

Catalogue € 39.99 - 36 (BOZAR-friends) Literary guide Jean-Philippe Toussaint – The Seasons. A literary take on fashion € 2 - 1 (BOZAR-friends) Un bel éte quand même 05.06 — 29.09.2015 Bellissima. The Story of five dresses Juergen Teller – Vivienne Westwood V+ 2014-2015 Premiere: DIOR and I – Frédéric Tcheng (Fashion on film) 23.06 — 20:30 (livestream from Paris) & 12.09. — 20:00 Compilation of short films Pascale Marthine Tayou. Boomerang Young Belgian Art Prize Mekhitar Garabedian. Installations Chinese Utopias Revisited. The Elephants BOZAR STUDIOS Parcours découvertes | Ontdekkingstochten (6+). Every Wednesday in July & August 14:30 FASHION NOW! 05.06 — 28.06.2015 An Unexpected Fashion Trail through the City of Brussels Discover unique designer displays in more than twenty shops throughout Brussels.

Info: www.summeroffashion.be Summer bar During the summer nocturnes (25.06 — 16.07 and 20.08 — 17.09.2015), BOZAR will be organising drinks, meetings and other activities at its summer bar. Buy an exhibition ticket between 6 & 7 pm and you will be entitled to a free cocktail in our summer bar!

Go to our Facebook page for more information on the programme.

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The Belgians. An Unexpected Fashion Story Head of Exhibitions: Sophie Lauwers Curator: Didier Vervaeren Assistant curator: Nele Bernheim Scenography & curatorial advice: Richard Venlet Head of Production: Evelyne Hinque Exhibition Coordinators BOZAR: Dieter Van Den Storm & Francis Carpentier Technical Coordinator: Isabelle Speybrouck Graphic Design: Paul Boudens Press: MCDM Marie-Christine De Meulder & Caroline Schuermans With dedicated support by Axelle Ancion, Leen Daems, Gunther De Wit, Frederic Eelbode, Laurence Ejzyn, Colin Fincoeur, Barbara Lefebure, Olivia van der Ghinst, the BOZAR Art Handlers and our hosts.

Coproduction: MAD Brussels Within the context of: Summer of Fashion – Madifesto MANAGEMENT BOZAR Chief Executive Officer – Artistic Director: Paul Dujardin Director of Artistic Policy: Adinda Van Geystelen Director of Operations: Albert Wastiaux Director of Finances: Jérémie Leroy Head of Music: Ulrich Hauschild Head of Exhibitions: Sophie Lauwers Head of Cinema: Juliette Duret Director of Technics, IT, Investments, Safety & Security: Stéphane Vanreppelen Director of Production & Planning: Jean-François D’hondt Director of Marketing, Communication & Sales: Filip Stuer Director of Human Resources: Marleen Spileers Director of General Administration: Didier Verboomen This is a publication by the Marketing, Communication and Sales departement of BOZAR Director of Marketing, Communication & Sales: Filip Stuer Editorial coordination: Frederic Eelbode Lay-out: Koenraad Impens Editors: Olivier Boruchowitch, Frederic Eelbode, Alexander Jocqué, Marianne Van Boxelaere, Xavier Verbeke & Luc Vermeulen Graphic Designers: Koenraad Impens, Olivier Rouxhet & Sophie Van den Berghe Audience Development: Eléonore Duchêne, Sylvie Verbeke Texts: Nele Bernheim, Aya Noël, Aline Peeters, Dieter Van Den Storm & Didier Vervaeren Translators: Alison Mouthaan

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THE BELGIANS. AN UNEXPECTED FASHION STORY

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est une marque dĂŠposĂŠe de la S.A. Palais des Beaux-Arts is een gedeponeerd merk van de nv Paleis voor Schone Kunsten is a registered trademark of the Centre for Fine Arts PLC

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HERITAGE. A SURREAL TRIBUTE MAISON NORINE. FASHIONABLY EARLY NEW STYLES. BEGINNINGS AND AVANT-GARDE PORTRAITS. FROM ME TO YOU LABORATORIES. WHEN ARTISTRY MEETS INDUSTRY MARTIN MARGIELA VocabulaRY. SINGULARITY AS TRADEMARK LOVE STORY. FASHION IS ART LIMITLESS. TO THE STARS WORTHWHILE. THE END OF THE WASTE NOUVELLE VAGUE. NEXT GENERATION