Info
Very Important Pixels is a fresh brand that features iconic pixel portraits on fashionable tops and sweaters. Inspired by 80s video games, Belgian designer Kristof Saelen has developed an original and unique style in which he handcrafts his works pixel by pixel
Very Important Pixels™ is a series of illustrations inspired by icons from the past and present. Each pixel portrait has been manually crafted starting from a blank canvas.
A selected collection of works was featured on apparel and other fashionable merchandise and got picked up by world-renowned boutiques such as Kitson (LA), Patricia Field (NYC), Colette (Paris), Spectrum (Milan), Venturer (Tokyo) and many more. Online prominent mentions and interviews include features on Wired, El País (Spain), My Modern Met and numerous blogs and papers. T-shirts and merch are still available online.
Visit our Rarible collection to find limited edition collectibles, hosted on the Ethereum blockchain in the form of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Each purchased artwork automatically registers the buyer as a certified owner and unlocks secret features such as exclusive access to source files and unpublished artwork versions.
Kristof Buntinx
Kristof BuntinxInfo
Brussels designer Kristof Buntinx has already created a furore with his God Save the Queens shirts and gained international fame with a boxer short collection with which he targeted Russian anti-gay laws.
Protest and irony are therefore no strangers to Buntinx, but he also dresses Belgian celebrities in little bespoke gems just as much as he has children photographed as superstars. The exiled Sint-Truiden native has been working under his own label for more than a decade. An official introduction is called for!
Kristof Buntinx was born on 10 September 1975 in the Limburg town of Sint-Truiden. He quickly showed an interest in fashion and design and proceeded to draw from a model and attended sewing and pattern design classes. Buntinx completed internships with several major fashion labels such as Levis jeans and the Amsterdam fashion duo Viktor & Rolf.
His own image language
After his initial designs for the Cinderella Shop in Antwerp he sank his teeth into (and left his fingerprints on) a series of coffee mugs for Godiva. Soon Buntinx would tackle hats, a trick he was able to repeat in 2012 for Royal Ascot.
Shortly thereafter, the Pain clothing line followed, with its own photo series in collaboration with Stijn Vanorbeek. Still inspired by the world of image creation, Buntinx worked with filmmaker Ilke De Vries, this time to explore moving images. The film Vision was the result, in which the designer searched his own conscience by referring to a personal crisis.
Artist’s blood
Between 2008 and 2010 Buntinx focused on hats and a full line of accessories.
Triggered by his own life and personal developments, language associations and puns took up an increasingly important place in his work. Like any true-blue artist, Buntinx also creates from an inner drive. “I have always been crazy about fashion, but designing also proved to be beneficial for my mental health. It is my “therapy with a capital T,” the designer states.
Once Buntinx found his way, an increasing number of opportunities came up: in 2011 the Toga 125 Fashion Awards and a fashion show in which his design Ceci n’est pas un Advocaat shone. That same year Modo Brussels, the MIAT in Ghent and Hong Kong Design week also followed. A prominent fashion watcher from the UK even called Buntinx the most eccentric fashion designer of the Modo Brussels event.
The future is now!
Loved by the international fashion blog scene, Kristof Buntinx does not shun controversy. For example, he came up with a series of socially committed designs such as his answer to the Antwerp rainbow controversy, the God Save the Queens T-shirt’, his Russian boxer shorts, which even reached the American media and the crown jewels for King Philip.
During the last festive period Buntinx surprised friend and foe with a range of crisis jewellery, which questions material luxury. The Christmas dresses designed by Buntinx for Dana Winners’ Christmas tour and for Marlène de Wouters, the presenter at the Queen Elisabeth competition earlier in 2013, were, on the other hand, downright luxurious.
Kristof Buntinx certainly aims to let his designs speak for themselves in 2015.
Stay tuned!
Xandres
XandresInfo
ABOUT US
READ OUR STORY
Xandres has enabled women to shine in elegant simplicity for more than 50 years. Effortlessly chic but refined, timeless but refreshing, designed with sophisticated details and an iconic quality: Belgian, sustainable fashion to cherish.
Fashion is a form of self-expression, an extension of our emotions. Every design that carries our label is made to convey a sense of self, perfect for everyday activities and important occasions.
We are a brand with a strong belief in sustainable pieces that eventually become wardrobe favourites. Elegant fashion we love to live in, tailored to ambitious, inspiring women of character.
Xandres celebrates femininity. Diversity is our beauty ideal, which is why our collections range from size 34 to 56, so every woman can count on the perfect fit, fabric and design.
Make every moment your own.
FITTING & CRAFTSWOMANSHIP
To us, femininity extends beyond clothing, beyond collections. It’s about identity, it doesn’t fit into a box. Diversity makes us stronger, and that is reflected through an authentic story in which every body, every size, every mindset is beautiful. A story in which we rebel against beauty ideals and support every woman’s self-confidence and personality.
That’s why you’ll find our clothing in every size, from 34 to 56, every item designed with the same attention to detail. By making small adjustments here and there in the designs, we can guarantee the perfect fit for every figure and let it come into its own beautifully. This tailored approach ensures that no one is limited by a lack of choice, that no one has to feel excluded. Because we are all Xandres.
INNOVATION
Xandres is investing in a better future, where quality and sustainability go hand in hand. We are developing a plan to make our entire production process as sustainable as possible, from yarn and fabrics to the garment in your wardrobe, and long after.
The Xandres Lab was founded to innovate and experiment. On the one hand, we draw up strategies for recycling our clothing and look for the right partners to complete the cycle. We gave new life to unsold items and materials from previous seasons in limited-edition capsule collections.
On the other hand, the Xandres Lab runs recurring projects in which we join forces with sustainable designers or brands. We give pioneers a platform and learn from them. This is how we move forward together, it’s a win-win situation.
#5DECADESOFXANDRES
FASHION COMPETENCE
50 years of know-how, experience and passion translate into our timeless, strong designs. A story that started with ’the perfect trousers’ and boutique clothing under the Andres name, when a new generation breathed life into the family business in 1968. Andres bridged the revolutionary gap between commercial brands and haute couture, thereby supporting women’s self-confidence and personality.
Luxurious but accessible clothing, complementing fashion trends with timeless beauty, imbued with authenticity and quality. That essence has remained unchanged.
In the nineties, Andres was transformed into Xandres, the iconic brand we are today. A long tradition inspired by femininity followed, and the first Xandres stores opened their doors in Belgium and the Netherlands. Xandres has since grown into an internationally respected fashion house and is still evolving. Proud of our roots!
Nijverheidsstraat 20 Destelbergen 9070 Belgium
Roxane Baines
Roxane BainesInfo
A graduate of La Cambre Mode fashion school, Roxane Baines began her career creating accessories for iconic fashion brands such as Givenchy and Louis Vuitton Paris. She then became freelance and began collaborating with small Parisian designers.
The brand philosophy combines sobriety, modesty and embodies everyday elegance. The collection embraces femininity and simplicity with a clean, minimal design that echoes her love of nature and her journeys to Japan.
All cuts are created with simple, everyday use in mind.
Roxane Baines creates timeless pieces with common and necessary features. Extreme clean lines, devoid of any decorative elements, give free reign to the expression of the fabric…
In her search for the essence, Roxane Baines reaffirms her desire to create timeless pieces, allowing them to express their individuality and personality in everyday life.
SHOP Sur Rendez-vous 114 rue Souveraine Brussels 1000 Belgium
Fam
FamThe LabelInfo
ABOUT
Conscious Fashion
Over the last years, the word ‘sustainable’ has become fashionable. It is being used often and in a lot of different contexts where it always seems to take on a different meaning. In many cases brands use this word as a marketing tool, in some cases this word is abused to greenwash. 100% sustainability is impossible but we do try to be conscious about our responsibilities as a label. Let us state what our approach to conscious fashion looks like to us and to our FAMily.
Everything we do has an impact, leaves a footprint. It is our goal to make this imprint as positive as is commercially possible. We reduce our carbon footprint in a number of creative ways and make sure that all the people involved with FAM are positively empowered.
How We Achieve This
Sustainable Design
Short-lived trends are not in our vocabulary. We strive to make clothing that transcends seasons and stay with you for the longest possible time. We like to think of our collection as a capsule. As our environment changes and temperatures fluctuate, we deem it important that our clothing is versatile and that certain pieces can easily transition the seasons with you.
Each year we design and produce two transseasonal capsule collections for which we choose fabrics that are suitable for summer as well as winter.
Sustainable Production
We have chosen to have all of our clothing produced in Europe to ensure a minimal amount of transportation and a working environment that is congruent with European Social law.
Ilda and Manuel are the proud owners of a small family business in Portugal and have themselves sewn our very first FAM pieces. This was the start of a very fruitful collaboration and a way to make sure that our clothing is made to last by well paid happy people. Happy people are important if we are to build a new world together.
Sustainable Fabrics And Printing
Technology and industry have made impressive advancements in the last years however we still have a long way to go to produce fabrics that are versatile, durable and ecologically innovative at the same time.
Although the possibilities are sometimes still limited, we put a lot of effort into sourcing fabrics that help us achieve both our goals in regards to conscious fashion as a company and our aesthetic goals as a fashion label.
All of our prints are designed in Belgium and printed in Europe with inks that pollute less and with a process that significantly reduces water consumption.
Transparency
It is important for us that you, our beloved FAM, are provided the tools to make decisions with integrity and enable you to consume and buy in such a way that is in line with your environmental and social ethics.
In striving for perfection, we have learned it is unattainable. Today it is strictly impossible to do everything 100% sustainably but we are encouraged to know our society and economy are slowly changing directions. We have you to thank for this and it is you and your choices as a consumer that can help us achieve a world where a well thought through approach to conscious fashion can become our collective reality.
Washing Prescriptions
Buying conscious clothing is an excellent first step in reducing our carbon footprint. The second step would be to make our clothes last longer so that we don’t have to throw them away
The Story
Before she created FAM, Vanessa Beniers was racing through life, like a lot of us, working a busy job with little creative satisfaction. Right after losing her mother and later also her job, she hit a metaphorical wall and crashed.
Loss is destructive but destruction always means opportunity, so Vanessa started digging for things that could give her life a renewed sense of meaning. She promised herself to never put another dream in a box, to unapologetically stand for what she believes in and to let love and passion guide her way. Turning her setbacks into wins ultimately guided her back to her childhood passion, her love for fine clothes.
Friendship And Collaboration
Life has a funny way of bringing the right people together at exactly the right moment. Around the same time Vanessa decided to enroll herself in several courses on patternmaking, fabrics and business she met Clarisse Rocha.
Clarisse was making a sustainable impact with her organic farming business in Portugal until the economic crisis hit. She felt forced to leave her home country and family to become a cleaner in Belgium and found a job working for Vanessa. As they both shared their stories about life and loss, they also shared their dreams and found common passions. A deep friendship was born and so was the drive to share their love for fashion and sustainability.
A few years later this friendship has grown into a strong collaboration. Clarisse was able to move back to Portugal and now manages FAM’s entire production process.
Meet The FAMily
We are a fashion brand but first and foremost, we are people. People who laugh and cry and crave connection. People who love hard and believe in the magic of community.
We are a fashion brand but first and foremost, we are human. We are more than cold measurements of size and weight, of revenue and efficiency. We want to put our humanity front and center in all of our endeavours. We don’t build a community around our brand, we build our brand around our community. People are the driving force and people are the reason we center our values around sustainability and inclusiveness. It is our connection with one another that makes our work worthwhile. When we feel we are all working towards a common goal we feel united and empowered. When we see that we share the same values, hopes and dreams, we start to consider ourselves a FAMily.
This is us, the FAMily.
Get to know us.
Vanessa
Designer & Founder
My favorite song: La Foule – Edith Piaff
Most loved FAM item: Our Mona dress, for its endless versatility.
A talent I am proud of: My creativity, being grateful in every situation and my ability to forge deep bonds with people.
On being a FAMme: It’s all about authenticity for me and embodying the duality of my sensitive sides and my badass edges.
FAMbitions: Make our brand grow by building it with the right people; our FAMily. Bringing about a change in our mindsets when it comes to dressing sustainably and making FAM an established value in this market.
Clarisse
Head Of Production & Quality Manager
My favorite song: Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
Most loved FAM item: Our Hanna Jumpsuit
A talent I am proud of: Connecting the creative aspects of the brand with the technical. My ability to easily connect with other people and making them smile in stressful situations. I love taking care of people and am also considered the mom of the family.
FAMbitions: To see FAM grow into an internationally successful brand.
Anaïs
Creative Community Manager
My favorite song: Lazy Nina – Greg Phillinganes
Most loved FAM item: Ash & Lee in Dark Clay Tencel
A talent I am proud of: My creative side – exploring & expressing new ideas.
FAMbitions: Spreading our message with creative content that reflects our FAM values. To not be afraid of being a little silly or breaking boundaries in order to reach our goal of a sustainable and ethical future.
Ilda & Manuel
When researching how we would tackle the production of our garments, one of our fabric suppliers gave us an address. We didn’t have a phone number to make an appointment so we just drove there and were immediately welcomed as family.
Everything just clicked and after discussing some things over a nice dinner that Ilda and Manuel had prepared for us we decided that these were the people who would handle our production. Soon after that Ilda made our very first FAM piece because she deeply believed this was the start of an amazing adventure together. She couldn’t have been more right.
Ilda and Manuel are now irreplaceable members of our FAMily. Our connection is deep and the amount of care and perfection they put into the production is uncomparable. We could not do this without them.
Katrien
Print Designer
My favorite song: Roam – The B52’s
A talent I am proud of: My sense of color, my capacity to capture ambiance and feeling with my drawings.
On being a FAMme: Sharing values and visions with a community of likeminded people is what’s important to me.
FAMbitions: To make women feel joyful and unique in their FAM outfits.
Celine
Wordsmith & Visual Content Creator
My favorite song: Millionaire (ft. Andre 3000) – Kelis
Most loved FAM item: All of our Kate trousers, they are incredibly flattering.
A talent I am proud of: Living and thinking outside of the box.
On being a FAMme: Embracing the full scope of what I am, trusting my intuition and not waiting for anyone’s approval to stray off the beaten path is what makes me feel complete.
FAMbitions: To be a drop in the ocean of people who are working towards a sustainable and inclusive future. That our mindful way of doing business will one day outweigh the impacts of fast fashion.
Sophie
Producer Prototypes
My favorite song: Boys will be boys – Dua Lipa
A talent I am proud of: My ability to turn a 2D design into a 3D garment and the sewing skills I need to accomplish that.
Most loved FAM item: I absolutely love the Elise jumpsuit.
FAMbitions:I want to keep improving communication between the design team and production team to produce high-quality garments.
Christel
Marketing Coach
You
The FAMme We Design For
You’re the star of our FAMily because your choices as a consumer are driving the real change. You are making our dreams possible and for that we love you, we thank you, we see you. Keep shining, keep doing you.
Ooievaarsnest 16 Gentbrugge 9050 Belgium
Info
Every Pluto creation has been specially designed to make everything fade away the moment you put it on.
Whether you want to relax after a stressful day, enjoy a peaceful night’s rest or indulge in long and lazy mornings, Pluto envelopes you in a heavenly sense of relaxation.
The elegance and comfort of each Pluto design is the result of traditional Belgian creativity and craftsmanship and a conscious choice to use only the finest quality fabrics.
Merellaan 46 Ninove 9400 Belgium
Info
ILKECOP (°2015) is a young high end label for women based in Brussels. All our garments are fully produced in Belgium with extreme care and attention to detail. This way we guarantee an honest production process with fair wages as well as a low ecological burden on the environment as shipping is minimized.
1aangepast
Ilke Cop (°1988) graduated in June 2014 from the fashion department of the academy of Sint-Niklaas (Belgium). In March 2015 she launched her own label ILKECOP and presented her first capsule collection ‘Extinct’ for A/W1516.
“As an art historian and young fashion designer I aspire to bring a refreshing view on women’s wear. The fun and wonder of fashion are essential to my collections.”
KOOLMIJNENKAAI 64 BRUSSELS 1080 Belgium
Natacha Cadonici
Natacha CadoniciInfo
Of Italian and Russian origin, everything predisposed me to become a designer and craftsman: Russian great-grandparents breeders of Astrakhan sheep, a daddy shoemaker who worked diligently with his sewing machine and maintained joyful contact with his customers, a mother who had made-to-measure dresses at a local seamstress and an Italian aunt who had set up her own beauty and hairdressing salon in the center of Milan, a magnificent woman, sunny, stylish, smiling, full of energy.
After studying at the Free University of Brussels (Roman Philology / Letters), then in Fashion Design (Institut Saint-Luc), I decided, in 2006, to create some tops that are sorely lacking in my wardrobe: tops that are elegant but not too much, comfortable but stylish.
I am going straight away for viscose jersey because it is an ultra comfortable material, very pleasant on the skin, natural, easy to work with, easy to wash, which lasts over time.
But to give it a more stylish look than a simple T-shirt, I quickly decided to add some nice details:
– other materials such as cotton, wool in cutouts
– asymmetrical necklines that you can’t see anywhere else
– punchy graphic elements, like piping, ribbed edges, which give light to my basic colors: navy blue and black. The ribbing that I create are knitted exclusively for my brand. They are therefore not found anywhere else!
MADE IN BRUSSELS
Beautiful, joyful, luminous and lasting
One of the recognizable characteristics of my work is the use of ribbons that finish the garment in the neckline, the sleeve ends and the bottom of the tops, with peppy and bright colors: a base of mostly ecru with touches of fluorescent orange, fluorescent pink, fluorescent yellow, copper lurex etc. These ribbons are designed by me: I select, among 200 different colors from my manufacturer, the right combination of colors, the height of the lines, the best fabrics. These 100% cotton creations are produced exclusively for my brand in the north of France. You won’t find them anywhere else!
Make in a small conscientious clothing workshop in Brussels
From the start, I have all my creations made in a clothing workshop in Brussels which has excellent craftsmanship. I found Alicia a bit by chance and how lucky I was to cross her path: she works for all Belgian designers, including the cream of the crop! I am proud to give a job to this super Polish woman who set up her business on her own in Belgium and hired 4 seamstresses who were her colleagues in Poland. Over time, we have developed a very nice relationship of trust, respect and we understand each other in a single glance.
Alicia and her employees work at their own pace, without pressure and she practices fair prices for all which allow her to pay her 4 seamstresses with dignity and fairness. I really feel that she makes my designs as if they were her own: conscientiously, with love and with a smile. They all always discover my new models and my new fabrics with curiosity and impatience. They love my design and therefore work with it with pleasure, which is priceless to me.
All the advantages of preorders
- It reduces the use of the earth’s primary resources
- It allows me to have more cash, which is more comfortable for me
- It allows me to dare more to offer you less commercial and more daring models since I only invest money in a prototype and not in a complete blind production without knowing if this new creation will please you or in what sizes will I sell it
- It allows me to make the best use of certain exclusive fabrics that I only have in limited quantities: I only produce the right sizes that you pre-order; I can thus satisfy all of you; whereas when I was producing blind I had some models left in unsold sizes and some of you were frustrated that you couldn’t order it in their size since I no longer had this precious fabric
- It allows me to offer you creations that are really in line with the weather and adapt to it
- It allows my clothing workshop to produce at a much more humane pace: the seamstresses sew throughout the year instead of having to produce a production that must last 6 months in a single month
g requires a little patience. This is not a compulsive purchase but a real crush. I am also very available by email or phone to answer all your questions. I am committed to offering you sustainable, soft, joyful creations that will do you good. And you have a double pleasure: that of pre-ordering and that of receiving it a few weeks later.
Rue du Marché au charbon 62 Brussels 1000 Belgium
B-shirt – United States of Belgium
B-shirt – United States of Belgium71 Chaussée de Charleroi Bruxelles 1060 Belgium
Retro Verso
Retro VersoInfo
About
Welcome to Retro Verso! My name is Charlien and I would love to tell you how this store full of cheerful and colourful clothing was created.
Immediately after I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Fashion Technology, it was itching to start my own clothing line. I could make the rugs myself, but unfortunately there was no budget for a physical store. This online store was created in 2013.
The starting points would certainly be quality and exclusivity – after all, nothing beats seeing people walking around in your self-designed, handmade dresses. In addition, a maximum of 10 pieces were made per model.
There was not much budget for advertising, but I could no longer keep up with the number of requests – especially customization. Unfortunately, manual work does not scale at all and soon I was faced with a real dilemma; outsource production or change tack. For example, I decided to look for colourful brands that I was going to sell through my webshop.
Fortunately, at that time I was able to use a fitting room and some display space in my parents’ shoe store so that my customers could try on clothes. Retro Verso, the shop-in-shop was born. Some time later, it seemed a good choice to leave the building entirely to Retro Verso.
In August 2017, the physical store opened, completely in the vintage style, on top of the web store.
Retro Verso now sells brands that you all know: 4 Funky Flavors, Froy & Dind, King Louie, Le Pep, Mademoiselle YéYé, Sugarhill Brighton, Blutsgeschwister, …
To this day I do everything myself: running the physical store, the webshop, purchasing, accounting, and most importantly for me: putting a smile on people’s faces 😉
Happy shopping!
Greetings,
Charlien
Vrijheidsstraat 1A bus 12 Denderleeuw 9470 Belgium