Patou Saint Germain
Patou Saint Germain
Info
Her firstname smells like the best fragrances and her name takes us to the artists’ Paris.
It’s because Patou Saint Germain has the exoticism of her ethnic background – she was born at Pointe-à-Pitre – and the creativity of the most famous fashion designers. She doesn’t hesitate to try new and inspiring experiences.
In her shop, located at rue Africaine in Saint-Gilles (Brussels), Patou creates for women. She wants to highlight the best part of womanhood in each women.
The purpose of the choice of shapes and materials is to beautify the body while maintaining the practical and comfort characteristics.
Patou Saint Germain creates ready-made clothes (directly or tailor-made) like evening wears, wedding dresses…but temporary creations, art pieces, and chocolate dresses too.
She likes to surprise and play with the different faces of her personality through her art.
Let’s start from the beginning…
Patou Saint Germain was born in 1970 in Guadeloupe and, when she’s 2 years old, comes in France with her parents.
She grows up in a family of six children. From a very young age, Patou creates clothes for her dolls.
At 15, she decides to become a fashion designer and passed the entrance exam of the school “Ecole supérieure des Arts appliqué Duperré”, the only public fashion school in Paris.
She dives into the fashion world like we can do with a religion.
During her studies, she works as a salesperson at Promod and wins the competition of young designers. Promod hires her immediately as a junior fashion designer.
Quickly propeled as a chief fashion designer, she travels a lot to “type” her products…USA, Italy, Japan…
The love brings her to Brussels where she works during one year for Caroline Biss.
In no time, she wants to stand on her own feet : she opens her shop and begins to draw, create and produce. That’s where Patou entertains her clients, offers ready-made clothes and…some tea.
An other approach of the fashion world.
« I always wanted to revolutionize the fashion world. The relation between the women and the clothes is very important. It’s the extension of her body and reflects her state of mind. When a women says that she hasn’t anything to wear while the wardrobe is full, it means that she’s a new person and wants other thing that she doesn’t own. A few husbands understand it thus.
I want to support women and give them a « tool » for making them feel ease and seducing. I am at their service for their aesthetic appearance including my two cents’ worth. For example, I love the crossed heart structure because it’s enveloping and draws body’s curves. It’s comfortable and feminine.»
From the story of the suit to the Japanese influence
« By studying the story of the suit, we realize that the unsaid was implicit via the suit. This one has been replacing the language in a time when the women did not have a say. »
Patou Saint Germain feels attracted by Japan, especially by Issey Miyake and her conceptual shapes with the search of simplicity that gives some strength.
« I’m an African from Europe and, like many people that feel displaced, pursue a sort of quest for an identity. »
This search is found in her creations that involve Africa and Occident via shapes and materials. Ideas and models emerge from the discoveries of different materials, variation of silk, flax, mesh or African basin.
« I love the « Makeba »(*) style drawing and the Japanese lines like hide-and-seek jackets of kimonos. »
The worry of womanhood and originality of the style serve as a conductor line for the creation of the models.
The enhancement of the feminine body , the search of the appropriate garment and the availability are Patou’s work characteristics too.
(*) in reference to the South African singer Miriam Makeba
Original creations
We should step out of our comfortable zone and search other inspiring sources, try the unknown and show ourselves in other aspects.
That’s what Patou does when she creates amazing and audacious chocolate dresses with the chocolate maker Laurent Gerbaud for The Salon du Chocolat.
Or whether when she creates a dress with ropes and the top hat for the exhibition City Doll in Brussels. This one has been sold in an auction for a charitable work.
And tomorrow ?
« I want to continue showing that it’s possible to wear clothes differently to highlight the most beautiful part of the women. Her body is a treasury. It needs to be pampered and highlighted. What gives me the most pleasure ? It’s seeing a women’s face changing when she wears a dress…It illuminates !
OPENING HOURS
Monday & Sunday – Closed
Tuesday– Saturday – 11:30 – 18:30
96, rue Africaine Brussels 1060 Belgium
Doriane van Overeem
Doriane van OvereemInfo
The accidental elegance of DVO creates sincere and ethical clothes, made for you in Belgium with guts and passion.
Fast-Fashion killed creativity and how we value our clothes. We tend to forget easily: “who made my clothes ? What is the price to pay to get this super good deal that crossed the oceans ?” Fashion is the second most polluting industry right after fuel, it is time to protect our planet.
If not now, when ? If not you, who ?
Today, as we move slowly towards gender equality, we can see another version of our future. So we can finally feel good in our body and mind, free from fears and anxieties. We know how it is to feel powerless about the human abuse in the clothing industry and feel the pressure of others because of how we look, either too prude or too sexy, bossy, bitchy. Everyone deserves to be whoever they want. Just like you, we feel frustrated living in a consumer society that does nothing for the ecological cause. We support your desire to consume less, by choosing better, to make it last.
Doriane van Overeem is a Belgian fashion designer, who graduated from La Cambre Mode(s) in Brussels and developed her skills in the studios of Manish Arora, Bernhard Willhelm, Meadham Kirchhoff and Louise Gray. She collaborated with : AEG Electrolux for the Care Label Project, Belfius, the Galeries Lafayette Paris, Disney and styled celebrities such as Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Marie Gillain, Ciara or Yuko Takeuchi. DVO has also been published in Glamour, Elle, Marie Claire, People Style Watch, 25 ans.
Purchasing a DVO piece, is supporting a local company which is totally transparent with you. For each product, you can find a size guide, the composition is precisely explained as well as the time of manufacture, so you know exactly what you are paying for. Each piece goes through a strict fitting to make sure it is comfortable, and as much as possible easy to care for. You can track your package anytime and you have up to 14 days to exchange your order. We can repair your piece if any unexpected use appears, so you can keep your clothes even longer. All pieces can be custom made, cause each body is different and unique.
If you are still not sure whether buying a DVO piece, you can regularly meet us during pop up stores, visit our atelier or stores where DVO is being sold. Or if you ever dreamed of learning how to stitch ? Come take a lesson with Doriane herself, anything is possible !
If you want to feel unique or just a little special, DVO is produced in limited quantities in Belgium, so you’re sure you get an exclusive product. If you don’t want to waste your time in stores, decrease your impact on global warming or stop exploiting humans or animals, we are here to help you in this transformation.
With DVO, we’d like you to feel ready to face any situation, as you will not only be comfy in your clothes, in your moves, but also in your mind because you will get a chance to make this world a better place. We’re taking you to a committed and honest fashion, with no concession, true to itself and its values; get that feeling by wearing DVO.
Buy less. Choose well. Make it last.
Chaussée de Tirlemont 281 Gembloux 5030 Belgium
Bernard Depoorter
Bernard DepoorterInfo
Luxury Couture – Prestigious Ready-to-wear . A Style in honor of “Women.” a world of mystery, where austerity and fragility intertwine. A mystical, ghostly, monastic atmosphere. In secret castles of many years, in the reflection of the mirrors and the strangest yet tender memory of Empress Sissi. This is the sphere in which evolves Bernard Depoorter. His creations give back to the woman of today her elegance and purity. He draws silhouettes that emphasize small waists and long legs enhanced with endless stilettos.
Rue du Béguinage 39 Wavre 1300 Belgium
Christian Wijnants
Christian WijnantsInfo
Christian Wijnants is an Antwerp-based fashion designer.
Born in Brussels, Christian moved to Antwerp in 1996 to study fashion design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. His graduate collection won the Dries Van Noten Award for best collection in 2000. After graduation, Christian presented his collection at the prestigious Festival d’Hyères, where it was awarded the Grand Prix and picked up by stores including Colette (Paris), Pineal Eye (London), and Via Bus Stop (Tokyo). After working with Van Noten in Antwerp and Angelo Tarlazzi in Paris, Christian launched his eponymous label in 2003.
Christian Wijnants presents his collections in Paris during Paris Fashion Week and is sold at boutiques and department stores worldwide including Barneys, Tomorrowland and Opening Ceremony.
Rich, layered graphics and fresh colors translated into eloquent knitwear offer a play of authenticity and luxury that has won him the 2013 International Woolmark Prize, the 2006 ANDAM Award, and the 2005 Swiss Textiles Award. Christian Wijnants is in collaboration with Swarovski for Spring-Summer 2016 and Autumn- Winter 2016 and has been nominated for Swarovski Collective Prize for Innovation.
Wijnants opened his first flagship store in Antwerp in September 2015.
HEAD OFFICE 215 Italiëlei bus 21 Antwerpen 2000 Belgium
36 Steenhouwersvest Antwerp 2000 Belgium
Dries Van Noten
Dries Van NotenInfo
Biography
Born in Antwerp in 1958, Dries Van Noten is the third generation in a family of tailors. At the age of 18, Dries entered the fashion design course of Antwerp’s Royal Academy. On graduating, he began to freelance as a consultant designer before starting his own collection of menswear in 1986. Since its beginnings Dries Van Noten has presented collections for women and men for Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter each year. He
celebrated his 50th fashion show in 2004 and 100th fashion show in 2017.
In June 2008, the Council of Fashion Designers of America honoured Dries Van Noten with its International
Designer of the Year Award. 2014 began with the grand opening of Dries Van Noten, “Inspirations”, a first
ever exhibition featuring his designs and influences at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Another
configuration of the exhibit moved to Antwerp in 2015. In July France decorated Dries Van Noten with the
honour of ‘Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.’ In October 2016, Dries Van Noten wins the Culture
Award from The Province of Antwerp for his contribution to Culture.
In June 2018 Puig entered the capital structure of Dries Van Noten as majority owner. The designer remains, over the long term, a significant minority shareholder and continues his role as chief creative officer and chairman of the board.
2019 saw Mr Van Noten collaborate with world renowned fashion designer Mr Christian Lacroix on his
collection for Women, Spring/Summer 2020. In June 2020, and September 2021, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has again nominated Dries Van Noten for its International Designer of the Year Award.
Q&A with dries van noten
When did you know that designing clothes was your path & passion?
There was a certain logic to my choice as my family had been involved in fashion and the garment business for generations. My father created one of Belgium’s most innovative retailers of ‘Pret-a-Porter’ and my grandfather was a tailor. I inherited my love of garment making, its traditions and rituals, from these men and my mother. Family immersed me in the craft and skill of fabrics, impassioned me with the power of flair and style for women and men that fired my quest to explore and question the subjectivity of “beauty” and the role it would play in my life. My family was very supportive and encouraged me to continue its fashion tradition. I regularly accompanied my parents to Paris and Milan on their many buying trips for collections. Though they had imagined I might take over the retail business, that I was passionate to become a fashion designer came as a great surprise to them.
What is your design signature?
I see a garment as a singular item of excellence that is part of a larger story told, firstly, within a designer’s vision for a collection and ultimately as part of the final wearer’s expression of their style through their wardrobe. My joy is to create a garment that fuses and balances beauty, craft and function, a garment that can perform well and continue in time to become part of life’s story. I enjoy juggling with colours, textures and light in a way that evokes rather than provokes.
Where do you come up with your best ideas?
The spark of inspiration for the narrative a collection rarely ever comes in the same way. The initial idea can sometimes come quickly and remain constant throughout the design process… occur on a walk in my garden, encountering a painting or the life and work of an artist. It can be something rarefied or ordinary, for example, suddenly looking at something that has surrounded me every day and seeing it in a different way that inspires. It can be a photograph in a book or a magazine, a re-read passage in a loved book, a conversation with friends or my design team or a piece of music. For other collections the story is more of a journey, deliberate, considered, and evolves through time and the design process. Anything can be that spark that ignites the creative process. What I have learned is that one recognises the spark when it happens, it may not be too planned, be ‘of its time’ and is more emotional than cerebral.
Is there a difference between style and fashion?
Of course, style comes from within..
What colour or fabric would you never use?
None actually! Often, challenging myself to work with colours, fabrics, or forms that I have disliked and bringing them into a collection can be an important aspect of the creative process.
What is beauty?
The idea of beauty is supremely subjective and very personal. Time also plays a role when our view on what is beautiful to us evolves. A flower, a building or a garment can be a thing of wonder for one while leaving another completely indifferent. What was beautiful to us even recently may be ugly today. Luckily, all designers have their own eye on and language of beauty.
What is ugliness?
It resonates in the same way as beauty for me. It is exciting when the formerly ugly becomes beautiful.
Timeline
- 1981 Dries Van Noten graduates from Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp
- 1986 Dries Van Noten started his first own collection of menswear after working as a freelance consultant designer
- 1989 Flagship store opens in Antwerp, Belgium
- 2004 50th Show
- 2007 Paris store opens at Quai Malaquais, Paris France
- 2008 Dries Van Noten wins Internation Designer of the year at CFDA awards./ Dries Van Noten Sacred “Royal Designer for Industry” from the RSA Trustee Board in London
- 2009 Flagship store opens in Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan/ Stores opens for the men at Quai Malaquais, Paris, France
Dries Van Noten Induction to The “Galerie Des Eminents” By The Flemish Chamber Of Commerce (Voka)
Dries van Noten is gifted a gold medal by The Flemish Royal Academy of Belgium
Dries Van Noten Is Honored With the “Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion” By the Couture Council of the Museum at Fit In New York - 2010 Dries Van Noten Is Invited To Preside Over the 25th Edition of the “Festival International De Mode et De Photographie” of Hyres, France
- 2013 Olfactory portrait by Frederic Malle with The Nose Bruno Jonanovic
- 2014 xhibition at The Musée Des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France
A book that accompanied his exhibition at Musée des arts Décoratifs in Paris, France - 2015 Dries Van Noten is decorated by Jack Lang of the medal
Opening of Dries Van Noten Osaka - 2016 Wins Culture Award from The Province of Antwerp
- 2017 An intimate portrait into the life, mind and creative heart the designer
A book in two volumes that depicts and documents his first 100 collection and Fashion shows
In recognition of his career as fashion designer and his contribution to the Cultural life of his native land - 2018 DVN enters in partnership with Puig as Major Stakeholders
- 2019 Collaboration with Mr Christian Lacroix
- 2020 Nominated by The CFDA for International Designer of The Year Award
Stores opens in Shanghai, China
Flagship stores opens in Los Angeles, USA the first Dries Van Noten store in the Unites States of America
Godefriduskaai 36 Antwerpen 2000 Belgium
Hasseltsesteenweg 105, Kortessem 3720
Nathalie Engels
Nathalie EngelsInfo
About Nathalie Engels
The clothing brand Nathalie Engels is a high-end sustainable label with its origins in Ghent, Belgium.
The brand stands for a collection which is created out of intuition and feeling. Made by a designer passionate by colour in all its aspects.
Nathalie with her 25 years of design experience believes that colour speaks a language that contributes to a positive energy, language that supports and brings out the internal beauty.
Serpentstraat 1 Gent 9000 Belgium
Info
Hemptees is a slow fashion brand with timeless high quality hemp clothing. Inspired by a slow lifestyle and a big heart for our oceans. We believe that every wildflower should feel free and comfortable in textiles that are good for the planet and good for people.
Our Story
Our little wildflower was born into an independent family. Her mother instilled in her a passion for art, textiles and natural materials. Her father travels (still does) around with his surf gear to catch the best wave. In 1982, he co-founded a textile distributor for sports brands. With this breeding ground, our little wildflower spread her seeds and Hemptees was born.
Lou De Buck, owner and founder of Hemptees, brings a consiously curated collection of her favorite versatile plant of all time, hemp. She draws her inspiration from music, cinema, travel and nature. She offers a mix of urban and coastal influences with a nod to modern nostalgia. Intuition and authenticity are always at the core of Hemptees aesthetic.
Hemptees appeals to fun-loving, free spirited and like-minded individuals and offers a range of clothing, home textiles and accessories with a focus on ethical, handmade and sustainable practices.
Sometimes you just need that good durable favorite and that’s when slow fashion is a great option. We want to do our part by offering sustainable clothing made from 100% hemp. An alternative textile that pollutes as little as possible and is better for people with sensitive skin.
My Ecological Lifestyle
My Ecological Lifestyle
The Power of Slow
Lou is excited about what the future holds and knows that this is just the beginning of Hemptees’ story.
Over the years, we have become acutely aware of how big our culture of waste is and how it has continued to grow. We live in a time where sustainability, equality and freedom are common themes. As a product-based brand, we are aware of more stuff’s impact on the environment, which is why we promote secondhand first and slow fashion second.
Affordable good basics for everyone is our driving force without compromising on quality and longevity.
Fashion is one of the biggest polluting industries, so we try to minimize our waste while providing you with beautiful timeless eco-friendly basics that you will cherish for years to come!
Ataman
AtamanInfo
Mustafa Ataman graduated from Francisco Ferrer School of Fashion with Honors and received the MAD Lookbook Prize 2018. Ataman started his career as a designer in Paris for Delphine Murat and then worked at Atelier David Szeto. Later on he moved to Istanbul to work alongside the stylist company Hakaan.
In 2018 Ataman went back to Belgium where he developed his own brand and collections. He participated in many fashion events such as MAD Sales, Maison des Modes in Roubaix, Balthasar in Sablon and different pop-up stores in central Brussels.
The first Ataman permanent store opened in Brussels in 2022. It is settled in in the historical neighborhood of Marolles in a small brick house, close to Place du Jeu de Balle.
Rue des Renards, 5 Brussels 1000 Belgium
Krjst
KrjstFabrieksstraat 15/19 Zaventem 1930 Belgium