In the mid-80s, a handful of young graduates from the Antwerp academy put Belgium on the international fashion map. Among them: Dries Van Noten, the master of color, and Martin Margiela, pioneer of upcycling and creator of memorable fashion shows. It’s no coincidence that Belgian designers are now chosen as artistic directors of major fashion houses (Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, Nicolas Di Felice for Courrèges…).

Renowned for their uncompromising approach, Belgian schools – including La Cambre Mode[s] in Brussels – are helping to train the very best of today’s creative talent. Many of them have already made their mark at the prestigious Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories – Hyères (France). In 2023 Igor Dieryck won several awards, worthy successor to Jean-Paul Lespagnard, Marine Serre, Ester Manas or Sarah Levy. If, as Fashion from Belgium, the video produced by WBDM, shows, the plurality of these universes does not make it possible to define a “Belgian school”, constancy in the work, an ability to construct and deconstruct the garment, but also an assumed anti-conformism undoubtedly constitute the Belgian identity.