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Diana Giambona
Brussels, Sep 5 (EFE).- Has Brussels left its mark on contemporary fashion? This is the thesis developed by an exhibition that has just opened its doors in the Belgian capital and which reviews, from the 80s to the present, the work of 33 designers influenced by a cosmopolitan, eclectic and free-spirited city, reflected in their garments. .
“Brussels Touch” is the title of this exhibition organized by the Brussels Fashion and Lace Museum, which collected the creations of designers who had ties to the city in order to discover their common characteristics, since “It is important to build the memory of his work”, as explained in an interview with Efe the director of culture, museums and archives of the Belgian capital, Denis Laurent.
“The Brussels touch is very subtle” because it is a “very cosmopolitan, eclectic and a bit chaotic” city, said Laurent, who assured that all these peculiarities are expressed in fashion.
Although Brussels is not considered a fashion city like Paris, Milan and New York, the Belgian capital's “spirit of freedom” allows creators more autonomy to express their own identities.
Laurent highlighted that one of the most famous designers present at the exhibition is Olivier Theyskens, who has been able to print his style on luxury brands such as Rochas, Nina Ricci and Azzaro, as well as dressing artists such as Madonna.
You can also appreciate pieces by designers such as Anthony Vaccarello, creative director of the Saint Laurent firm; Julien Dossena, creative director of Paco Rabanne, and the Belgian-Spanish José Enrique Oña Selfa, former creative director of Loewe.
Many of the selected designers trained at La Cambre, an internationally renowned school of art and design, which in the 1980s founded its department of styling and fashion creation.
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In that same decade, the STIJL boutique emerged, the first to sell and distribute the work of Brussels designers, so they were key years in the rise of the fashion sector in the Belgian capital.
BRUSSELS FASHION
The curator of the exhibition, the French Lydia Kamitsis, found that what characterizes fashion in Brussels is not something visible, but is based on attitude and relationship with materials.
Kamitsis classified the designs into five groups distinguished by humility, craftsmanship, unorthodox, poetic, and generosity.
The humble section brings together pieces based on understated elegance and subtle choice of materials, while the artisan includes dresses reminiscent of expressionist and abstract painting.
A belt with a nose-shaped buckle and a white sweatshirt made from woven tablecloths are part of the unorthodox category, where a sense of humor and the absurd prevail.
For its part, the poetic has a “strong tendency to be very meticulous with the beauty of small things and the perfection of details”, Laurent pointed out.
Generosity is expressed through commitment to current issues, which is why “designers who work with sustainability issues” can be found in the exhibition, Laurent said.
One of Marine Serre's dresses implements “upcycling”, a technique that consists of transforming waste into valuable objects, and with different pieces of fabric she sought to represent the dialogue between East and West, inspired by the terrorist attacks in Brussels of 2016.
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In the case of the designer Ester Manas, she works on the concept of "one size fits all", for which she creates systems to make garments that adapt to all bodies, in order to defend the inclusion and social equality.
To complete the outfits, Elvis Pompilio provides the hats, some cowboy-style and others shaped like miniature sweaters.
Some very particular designs that have ensured that for almost four decades the stars and lovers of hats did not leave Brussels without going to their store. EFE
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