Life & Style | Beauty & Fashion
Sacs in the city
Beige, leatherette and still warm. The last customer had left a slight dimple in the middle of the two-seater. The table was wringing wet from the swab used to clear away the remains of his order.
- By Olu-Kemi Komolafe, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 February 21, 2007
- You wouldn't notice one from across the street but when you look closely, the stitching, the texture and the finishing are outstanding.
- Image Credit: Press Release photo
Beige, leatherette and still warm. The last customer had left a slight dimple in the middle of the two-seater. The table was wringing wet from the swab used to clear away the remains of his order. A lanky, broody waiter brings me a frothy hot chocolate in a half-pint glass and a tablet of Dolfin chocolate. Dark and crunchy, but with no bitter aftertaste, just tiny splinters of earl grey tea.
Fresh air
I could be somewhere in the Village right now. This particular setting, just a few minutes off Brussels's busy "Grand Place" could easily be a scene in an episode of Sex and the City. It's rife with budding young artists and designers. Red and jet-black hair dyes that came out of a colouring home-kit roughed up in rugged and edgy styles.
The guys stride down the streets carrying vinyl record bags with fitted, retro leather jackets, vintage velvet and corduroy dinner jackets paired with slimfit jeans or cargo pants.
The girls are wrapped in bright woolly scarves and long duffle coats carrying slinky shoulder bags. No Fendi, Chanel or Gucci bags in sight for miles - what a breath of fresh air. With Belgium's wealth of home grown designers, who needs Frida Giannini?
Huge waves
Antwerp, more than Brussels, has been creating huge waves in the fashion scene since the late '90s with designers such as Dries Van Noten, Nadine Wynants, Ann De Meulemeester, Dirk Bikkembergs and Kaat Tilley. And there's plenty more where that came from.
This time, however, the focus is more on the capital. Louise Assomo, Elisabeth De Sloovere and Mademoiselle Jean, to name a few, are all aptly located on Brussels's hip and happening fashion district, Rue Antoine Dansaert. It was there that Emanuelle Adam took me for a beginners course in the city's thriving fashion scene.
Adam should know, she's on the frontier with a successful handbag and accessories fashion enterprise. The 32-year-old designer owns Lilu, and creates understatedly stylish everyday handbags and belts for ladies.
Exhausted
You wouldn't notice one from across the street but when you look closely, the stitching, the texture and the finishing are outstanding. And the best bit: it's not going out of fashion any time soon. The more I looked at the one nestled on her right arm, the more it grew on me until I was completely smitten.
Emmanuelle Adam and her friend Géraldine Rautier took over Maison Dequanter (founded in 1937, a major supplier of buttons to luxury fashion houses such as Chanel - many moons ago) in 2003. At first, nothing appeared to predestine them to work in fashion.
Rautier left Lilu and Maison Dequanter in 2006 and Adam now runs the brand herself. She's exhausted, she tells me, but wouldn't dream of doing anything else.
Monotone
Adam was offered a stand at the Belgian and Brussels Fashion Fair (BFF) last year and found it a great way to network with European retailers, buyers as well as fellow Belgian designers. "For me, it's more than making a stack of orders when I exhibit at BFF, I really value the feedback I get from traders and shop owners." Being the biggest economical power in Europe, Lilu also exhibits her swanky bags in Germany. The Germans can't seem to get enough of it.
"In Belgium, bags are usually produced in a rough and rigged monotone leather, and the designs are similarly the same," says Adam with a look of disdain across her face. "It's dead. The leather has no movement or character." Adam's bags move. They flop, turn over, crease and sag. They're alive. The leather feels like skin - it tans, there are little scars on it and, given time, it ages.
Adam, originally from the small Belgian town of Charleroi, discovered her passion for fashion in Milan. She spent a year in Italy's fashion headquarters mingling with stylists and designers. It seems that the flair and elegance that sets the Milanese in a league of their own has rubbed off on her.
Strength to strength
Adam's first placement was under Belgian designer Johanne Riss and from there she has created a niche for herself in the European accessories market.
Lilu has been growing from strength to strength since its birth in 2003 and has even caught the eye of Dubai's Paris Gallery.
Lilu is currently distributed in about 50 boutiques in France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany. Adam takes her inspiration from details and motion. "I saw a large button on a Balenciaga coat and that was my whole driving force for one collection. My bags are about the tiny details, the finishes and the way the bag moves," said Adam.
nFor more information on Emanuelle Adam and Lilu visit: www. lilu.be.
Prices start from 200 euros (about Dh965).
Peppercorn
Peppercorn is a Danish brand exhibiting at the Belgian and Brussels Fashion Fair. Their spring/summer 2007 collection makes a shift "from fussy details towards simple and well-tailored shapes". The women's collection featured strong masculine elements such as high waisted, wide-leg trousers and fitted waistcoats. The colours are cool and muted in lightweight fabrics for the hot summer months ahead.
Website: www.peppercorn.dk
Eve-ning
Sandra Peters is a Belgian ladies evening wear designer. At BFF the 5-year-old brand, dealing exclusively in elaborate dresses, stood out with an interesting array of colourfully dressed mannequins.
Peters brings out two collections per year aiming "for graduations and weddings in the summer and New Year parties in the winter".
Her summer 2007 collection features vivid colours such as orange, magenta and emerald green.
Website: www.evening.be
Dominique Lila
Knitwear designer Dominique Lila started out as Sonia Rykiel's assistant designer before moving on to work with Corinne Delemazure in Italy. Lila's describes her spring/summer 2007 collection simply as "clothes that give you a cuddle". The French designer hopes her clothes will give her customers "comfort, sensuality and tenderness, almost like a second skin". At BFF, Lila exhibits alongside friend and cosmetics designer Libertin Louison. Louison's collection, Technique Indescrete, uses 90 per cent biological ingredients to create fantastic home and body products.
Websites: domlila.com and www.techniqueindiscrete.com.
Xyris
Xyris is an accessories brand developed by Xarobi, a wholesale beads manufacturing company.
The designers use semi-precious stones, resins, metals, glass, wood and natural ceramics to create both dynamic and enigmatic pieces of jewellery.
They also produce pieces for major Belgian designers such as Stills and Caroline Biss.
For more information visit: www.xyris.be
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