The Antwerp Fashion Management Summer School Experience – Day 1 – MOMU

The MoMu or ModeMuseum is Antwerp’s fashion collection archive, housed within the prestigious Antwerp Fashion Academy where 60 out of 500 applicants get in every year, and only an average of 8 eke it out to the bitter yet beautiful end. At the time of our visit, the museum team were busily setting up their next installation, a tribute Madame Grès (or slate, a nickname she acquired), a true icon in the industry, who started her fashion house in Paris in 1943. Grès despised sewing so most of her magic was created through the use of pleats. The exhibition will display originals on loan as well as tribute pieces from haute-couture heroes like Comme Des Garçons, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Lanvin and so on. So instead of exploring an exhibition, we were given a backstage tour of the museum’s fashion collection archives (and the upcoming expo seen below) which are mostly acquired through donations from private owners. The archive contains hundreds of pieces dating across the century, and most particularly is the largest repository of designs from German yet Belgian residing avant-garde designer, Bernard Wilhelm. Wilhelm’s wacky career has seen him assisting greats like Walter Van Beirendonck, Alexander Mc Queen, Vivienne Westwood and Dirk Bikkembergs.

The photos below also show one of the museum’s restoration experts repairing a 1950s cocktail dress that was shipped especially from the US for delicate repair.