City Life Antwerp

It seems to me that we all grew up wearing K-WAY, the rain -and windproof jackets in hipbags. K-WAY was invented in the 1960s by Léon Claude Duhamel. When you’re little you don’t really care about these always-two-sizes-too-big unflattering jackets, but once you’re a teenager there comes a day that your mom can no longer force you to wear a K-WAY to school on a rainy day.

After forty years, four Belgian designers were asked to create their take on the oldschool K-WAY jacket. Cathy Pillfurniture Elhovo, Sofie D’Hoore, Christophe Coppens and Jean-Paul Knott, all creative and well-respected designers, decided to add some fashion to comfort. Each designer made two different jackets, one for men and one for women. They will be sold by Fashion Club 70 in February 2008. I’d love to get my hands on the Christophe Coppens’ design, and I fear I won’t be the only one. His modern take on Little Red Riding Hood is wonderful!

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There’s a new store opening in December, Sien (Nationalestraat 91 - 95). I would love to tell you more about it, but that’s the problem. In these troubled times of marketing strategies, Sien has decided not to give away crucial information yet. You can sign in on their newsletter and receive a notification when the store opens. Sien will sell designer brands such as Givenchy, Boudicca, Hussein Chalayan, Christian Wijnants, Heaven Tanudiredja and many others.

Heaven Tanudiredja is in his final year at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Fashion Department (deuh). His third year collection won the Vertice Award at ITS#SIX.

I went to Amy Winehouse’s gig on Tuesday in Brussels AB club. The concert was sold out in record time, I heard one guy paying 100 euro for a ticket on the street and there were even some willing to pay up to 200 euros.

It was great seeing Amy in real life but was the gig worth 100 euros? Nope. All day long people asked themselves one single question: “Will she be there? And if so, in what shape?” So, kudos to Amy, she was there. Dressed in a short, pink strapless dress and stilettos, she looked like the streetwise version of Barbie. I did feel the urge to take her with me to McDonalds because she is awfully thin. And yet she didn’t manage to find a bra that kept her breasts were they ought to be: in her dress.

Amy sang quite ok, Back to Black for example was nice, but it was her band and expecially her two backing vocals that added some swing to the show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two men dancing their asses off in a black and white suit and a Hawaiian flower necklace like these two. Amy herself didn’t put much effort in her peformance. “You want a drink? You want a kiss? You want a babysitter?” were the only words inbetween the songs. Self-reflection, anyone?

Amy Winehouse’s records are incredibly good and I definitely recommend them but on stage she is a bit of a disappointment.

Amy Winehouse performing ska classic Monkey Man at Jools Holland.

I always thought holidays were meant to revitalise the inner you. I’ve come to the conclusion though that they are nothing but incredibly tiring. I need some kind of structure. Getting out of bed at 3PM does not equal structure.

This week is stuffed with parties. The first one took place past Saturday at Noxx. My friends and I knew that the club is nearby cinema complex Metropolis but… Where exactly? Help came in the form of a shuttle service. Helloooo ugly Hummers. The Noxx shuttle service probably is the most empty-headed invention ever: you step in the car, you say to your friends: “Wow, we’re in a Hummer.” and after 50 meters the driver drops you off at the club. The car literally crosses the street and turns back. Oh well. After having queued for half an hour, seeing youngsters being rejected for wearing sneakers (a short dress and high heels get you into any club) and passing the metal detector, we’re in.

The one thing that keeps me at a club, isn’t the interior design. It’s not the fancy bartender, but it is the music. And sadly enough, on Resident Saturday, it wasn’t all that. The club is so spacious that even when there are plenty of people, it still feels empty. I wasn’t a big fan of the bright lighting either, there has to be a bit of a dark atmosphere. Plus, the air conditioning made us shiver in our party dresses.

To cut a long story short: we left shortly after our arrival. When we walked back to the car, a hostess gave us free entrance tickets to club Industria. But we finally wanted to dance the night away so we chose wisefully: Mr. Oizo at Café Capital. What a relief! Cosy club, incredible atmosphere, beautiful people, best party music ever.

You want to see me dancing? Find me at Café Capital tomorrow. 

We’re back. When I returned from Trieste, Italy last week, I found myself without internet connection - which explains the lack of updates. Plus, Deadline Week at school was upon me so no help from that corner either. Luckily, I’m having a week off (fall break) and internet is once again functioning as my safe haven.

Last Tuesday, I went to the VIP opening night of the Stadsfeestzaal in Antwerp’s city centre. The neoclassicist Stadsfeestzaal is one of Antwerp’s monuments, it will celebrate its 100th birthday next year. For years, Stadsfeestzaal was the largest building in Belgium, where numerous dances, fairs, concerts and other cultural events took place. For a lot of elder people, Stadsfeestzaal holds sweet memories. I heard a touching story of a woman saying she had her first kiss during one of the dances that used to take place in Stadsfeestzaal.

In 2000, after years of abatement, almost the whole building was burnt to ashes. After almost three years of work, Stadsfeestzaal is now completely rebuilt. The gold-leaf-finished stucco, the marble monumental staircase as well as a spacious interior square with an enormous glass dome have been retained from the original scheme.

Stadsfeestzaal offers 40 stores, some restaurants, a supermarket and 40 rooftop apartments. COS now has its second Belgian store, Urban Outiftters its first European store (won’t open until December though). Some other shops: Mandarin & Mint, Turnover, Sabon, Friis & Company, Saturn, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger Tailored,… At the VIP night, a man in suit began rattling to me about the fact that he had expected Armani and Versace to open a store in such a wonderfully designed building. The lack of Armani or Versace doesn’t bother me, the man did.

The first sentence I heard when entering the building at 11AM for the press conference: “You are expected in the champagne bar”, et voilà, one of the novelties: a huge champagne glass, home of the Laurent Perrier champagne bar. Nice.

Yesterday, the Hindu community in Antwerp celebrated the birthday of Ganesh. Ganesh is one of the best-known and most worshipped gods in Hinduism. I didn’t know anything about the festivities but luckily I bumped in on the dancing and celebrating Hindi during their ceremony across town. In true Sherlock Holmes style, I grabbed my camera and decided to follow them!

The procession ended near the river and the large Ganesh statue - beautifully made of clay - was immersed in water. Tradition, apparently. It was the first time the Hindu community celebrated Ganesh’ birthday in Antwerp and I’m very glad I was part of this joyful afternoon. And many thanks to the sweet girl who explained what was going on exactly and who invited me to stay for dinner, it was greatly appreciated!

Note to self: upload pictures as soon as you’ve shot them.

If not, the following may occur: “Hm, pictures from September 11th I took for a post about Vitrine. Wow, they really have no news value left whatsoever. Should I post them anyway?” Yes, I shall post them anyway!

Vitrine took place from September 6th until September 16th. The Flanders Fashion Institute organises Vitrine, “a ten-days fashion event for the public”, since 1998. The concept: fashion on display, fashion in a shop window.

This year’s theme was Surfaces. Personally, I don’t really see the point of a theme since you rarely see a connection between the theme and the participants’ work. It’s just an opportunity for any young or established designer to go crazy. Everyone is completely free to present their work as they see fit, be it with garments, pictures, videos, custom-made decoration, objects or three-dimensional installations. Los geht’s!

I particularly loved Café Costume’s work. The aim of Café Costume is to bring back affordable quality and craft to contemporary men’s fashion. Clothes exclusively made for your body and taste. Café Costume comes from a long line of tailors so it was no surprise that they chose to place giant red pin-cushions on the street and in front of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Very original and probably the most photographed work.

 

Another favourite of mine: Daniël Weinberger. He works in the disciplines of applied and visual arts. His installation, a collection of beautiful necklaces, was at A La Mode (Nationalestraat 27)s. I would definitely wear some of them!

Designer Annick Vandecappelle owns a small store AVe (Lombardenstraat 18), where you can buy her hand-made clothes. Vandecappelle turns vintage cottons, laces and brocades into art-deco inspired looks. I found her contribution very interesting, partly because she actually worked with the Surfaces theme. She even displayed her source of inspiration, a piece of art by Sonia Delaunay.

Past Friday, I went to a Vive la Fête gig at club Petrol. I wore my - as I like to call them - Daisy Duck shoes. 

Se Na Yoon, now starting her third year at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts, designed them for her collection “The operating room”, inspired by Flemish dress by Petrus Christus (1449). During one of the fitting sessions last year, I mentioned to Se Na how much I liked her shoes. And because she is such a sweetheart, she gave me a pair after the show as a present.

I won’t go into detail but when I arrived at my front door after the party, in the middle of the night, my toes felt as if Bigfoot had just joyfully danced on them. 

Thus far my advice: shoes made for the catwalk are not necessarily made for the dancefloor. 

In two days, Magnolia will open its doors at Volksstraat 28.

Why is this of interest to me? For starters, Magnolia is right around my corner (I just moved to the so-called ‘hip’ part of Antwerp so from now on I’m obliged to own at least three semi face-covering sunglasses. Quite the sacrifice.).

Secondly, Magnolia will offer about 35 hard-to-find beauty brands. And since I am a girl, I can’t not go and take a quick peek.

The idea originates from Audrey Heselmans, ex-model and stylist at Weekend Knack magazine. On her journeys around the globe, she discovered all sorts of beauty brands that were not yet sold here. So she decided to open her own store. Expect to find Laura Mercier, Rich Hippie, Rosie Jane, Nature Girl,…

I’ll make sure to post my thoughts on the store next week!

(Picture of Audrey Heselmans taken bij Michel Vaerewijck)