CURRENT VIEWING: DRESSING THE 20TH CENTURY: MODE MUSEUM (HASSELT)

Much of that "Antwerp 6" movement actually originated from Limburg, a province of Belgium

That Belgian taste point. You know I love it to the point of insanity. As such it has been very interesting exploring its provenance and DNA. For instance, I discovered that much of that "Antwerp 6" movement actually originated from Limburg, a province of Belgium.

Limburg-born fashion designers. Martin Margiela, Dirk Bikkembergs and Raf Simons are amongst the flag-bearers. But also importantly, there are less exposed names like Bart Vandebosch of the label Les Hommes, Marjolein Van den Heuvel, Stijn Helsen, Joke Houbrechts of the former brand Kyuso, and more recently Ti+Hann and Sofie Claes.

Modemuseum Hasselt (MMH) recently inherited a comprehensive Raf Simons archive, excerpts of which are currently being highlighted in the exhibition 'Dressing the 20th Century". In tracing the evolution of women’s fashion from 1900 until today , as guided by the influence of designers in the 20th century, the deft thing this critical exhibition does is that it embeds the tradition of Margiela and Simons as part of the greater infrastructure of fashion history.

Wayne Sterling