Now that Walter Van Beirendonck, the last independent designer of his generation and of the legendary Antwerp Six, is approaching retirement age, one might get the impression that Belgian fashion has reached its expiration date. Nothing could be further from the truth. Walter is still going strong! Other established names keep reinventing themselves, and young designers are eagerly working their way toward building their own fashion houses.
Meryll Rogge is one of those rising Belgian fashion talents to keep an eye on. The designer from Ghent graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Antwerp Fashion Academy in 2008 and immediately landed a position as a Women’s Collection Designer at Marc Jacobs in New York, where she worked for seven years. She then spent four years as Head of Women’s Design at Dries Van Noten. During Paris Fashion Week for Fall/Winter 2020–2021, she launched her first collection under her own name. Since then, most of her success has come from abroad.
“Our collections are currently sold in Belgium at Renaissance in Antwerp, and internationally in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan,” says Rogge. “We recently opened our first retail points in Italy, Spain, London, and South Korea. Naturally, we’re also available online through platforms like VSRNL, Net-a-Porter, and Ssense.”
Her studio is located in Sint-Martens-Leerne, but design is the only activity carried out there. “Eighty percent of our production takes place in Italy, with the rest in France, Spain, and Romania. Only our men’s-style coats are produced in Belgium.”
“It was always a dream of mine to work for designers I deeply admired — like Marc Jacobs, Miuccia Prada, and Dries Van Noten — after graduating,” she continues. “Still, it came as a surprise when I was already offered a position with Marc Jacobs while I was still a student. I got the opportunity to do an internship there, which turned into a full-time job.”
“Back then, aside from a few exceptions at Dior Homme, it wasn’t very common for students from the Academy to work at major fashion houses. Most aimed to launch their own collections. I get the impression that in the last five years, a lot more graduates have ended up working at big names like Balenciaga or Acne Studios. A few Belgians are even working at Azzedine Alaïa. I think it’s now seen as a more natural step to join a major house first — unlike ten years ago. That’s a positive evolution!”
Standing Up to the Giants
“I don’t feel like I have to compete with the big fashion houses,” says Meryll Rogge. “I believe that if you work in a personal and honest way, it will be appreciated. Sure, having big budgets helps and opens doors, but everything in its own time — and who knows, maybe one day we’ll become a giant fashion house ourselves.”
“Young designers today actually have many more opportunities than when I started in Brussels in 1983,” says Edouard Vermeulen, designer and founder of the fashion house Natan. “Back then, there was no online shopping or social media. I had to open a physical store and/or find retail partners, organize fashion shows, invite the press — all of it came with major financial consequences just to gain visibility. You know how it goes: when you launch your boutique on a Monday, you won’t have sold anything by Wednesday, yet you’re already paying rent and a sales assistant. Today, young designers can launch a brand and present themselves on social media without large investments. I even meet designers who make just one piece at a time and only continue after they’ve sold it. Everyone can start a website or Instagram page. In that sense, it’s easier today. On the other hand, the online space is saturated — but a good designer will stand out through creativity. The best ones will rise above! We have excellent schools and a strong reputation, so Belgian fashion will continue to thrive.”
Natan currently operates eight standalone boutiques and is stocked in 120 multibrand stores across Europe. “Natan continues to aim for the high-end segment, but with the corner we opened in Le Bon Marché in Paris on February 14, we hope to reach a broader audience who might not otherwise find their way to our Paris boutique. In business too, we aim to be creative and keep up with the world’s changes — the pace of change in the past three years has been much faster than the previous twenty.”
“Today, we produce our couture pieces in two ateliers in Brussels,” Edouard continues. “The rest is made in Italy and Romania — simply due to high labor costs in Belgium. If we made everything here, we wouldn’t be competitive. But I still want to continue with the house for a while. I want to share my creativity and experience with the younger generation around me. And we try to support young creatives — whether in fashion, design, or art — through initiatives like Natan Collective. Winners of our competition receive a small grant to develop their project, which is then exhibited on the first floor of our boutique on Avenue Louise. If Covid permits, the next exhibition will open in April.”
Once It’s Gone, It’s Gone
“Realizing their dream and starting a new brand is, for young fashion designers, both a great opportunity and a great risk,” says Wendy Luyckx, Communications Manager at the Belgian fashion federation Creamoda. “Creativity is key, but a commercial mindset and business attitude are also essential to succeed and seize important opportunities. In this, the role of the right entourage/team/network should not be underestimated. The fashion sector is currently going through an exciting period due to all the challenges and changes. Young designers today often choose to produce only a limited number of pieces and work according to the op/limited edition principle. In this way, the guarantee of sales is greater and the brand is also more exclusive. But if demand remains high, the supply increases and this is a balancing act. It all depends on the growth of the brand and correctly estimating the demand for the collections. This can be after two or three collections. The more experience, the better the estimation.”
No Seasonal Collections
The Limburg-born Souâd Feriani is one such Belgian designer who, despite similar success, has chosen not to create seasonal collections but rather limited pieces. As a designer, she wants to show every woman the ‘perfect shirt.’ “At 13, I dreamed for the first time of a career as a fashion designer,” says Souâd Feriani. “Ultimately, I have pursued my goal in a straight line. My collection consists of pieces that you can continue to combine over the years for both work and festive occasions. I regularly add new pieces, but since 2014 we have not worked with seasonal collections. A good piece, in my opinion, has a longer lifespan in the store than five months. I would describe my fashion as poured luxury because, due to the longer lifespan, it is also more sustainable.” Today, Souâd Feriani’s designs are available in her own boutiques in Antwerp and Hasselt, and via her own webshop, as well as in several multi-brand stores.
Disappearing Skills
The COVID crisis forced many designers to become even more creative. “My father, Manufer Gulcu, who as a tailor lent his expertise to major fashion houses such as Cerutti, Kris Van Assche, Yves Saint-Laurent, Jean-Paul Knott, Natan, and others, founded our atelier in 1984,” says Lucie Gulcu, designer behind 29th October. “Our couture house was officially launched eight years later. So you could say we started during the golden era of leather. Of course, we also saw leather-specialized houses disappear one by one. Over the past twenty years, globalization added to this trend, and massive imports from abroad increased competitive pressure. Additionally, our sector saw the emergence of more lower-quality products, such as synthetic leather made from plastic. We have remained true to our values and are fortunate to have built a house centered around our own ateliers in Brussels. This gives us complete freedom in terms of creation, material choices, cuts, and timing. Freedom that allows us to express ourselves as we wish and to stay completely true to who we are. Moreover, as specialists in working with natural materials (skins, leather, suede), we continue to work in an artisanal manner to this day. We are probably one of the very last houses to carry out such an artisanal production process entirely in Belgium. Thanks to all these elements, we can make a difference and give our vision a place in the Belgian fashion landscape.”
“Certain skills are becoming increasingly difficult to find today,” says Lucie Gulcu. “I am thinking in particular of couture. Many young designers limit themselves to sketching and designing because their knowledge of garment construction doesn’t go far enough. In my opinion, this limits their development and the realization of their ideas. Moreover, small sewing ateliers are disappearing like snow in the sun. As a result, more and more young, starting Belgian designers struggle to find places to produce their new collections.”
Reinventing Yourself
“The COVID crisis was a real ordeal for us as well, but at the same time it was also an opportunity for our House to innovate,” says Lucie Gulcu. “At the end of last year, we launched a collection of accessories and women’s textiles. In addition, we were forced to become even more creative, for example with special capsule collections such as a range made from vegan leather or metallized leather. We’ve noticed that since the crisis, consumers attach even more importance to ‘local production’ and ‘shopping locally’—including when it comes to fashion. And we can only applaud that!”
www.waltervanbeirendonck.com
www.meryllrogge.com
www.natan.be
www.souadferiani.com
www.29thoctober.com
