BOOKS ON BELGIAN FASHION WORTH HAVING

If you are into Belgian fashion, I would recommend the following three books, Belgian Fashion Design, Young Belgian Fashion Design, and Dries van Noten 01-50. I own all three and I never get tired looking at them.

The first two books are compilations of work by different designers.
Belgian Fashion Design concentrates on the early famous designers like Ann Demeulemeester, Walter van Bierendonck, Dirk Bikkembergs (R.I.P. in Milan), Martin Margiela, Raf Simons, etc.
The photos are absolutely amazing and showcase their talent in the best possible way. There is also a little historical and biographical information on the designers.




Young Belgian Fashion Design came out in 2001 and surveys what then were young designers.
Strangely, Raf Simons is in both books.
In addition, there are some extremely rare shots of work by Jurgi Persoons, plus A.F. Vandevorst, Bernard Willhelm, Veronique Branquinho, etc.



Both books are now out of print and fetching quite a high price on Amazon, but they are worth hunting for.


One designer that is covered very thinly in those books is Dries van Noten. Not to fear - he made his own book that highlights his first 50 runway shows. It is called Dries van Noten 01-50. I got it for my birthday, and it is an absolutely amazing book, wonderfully laid out and full of words from Dries and comments from fashion insiders that are as warm as his clothes. It also lifts the veil on what goes on in preparation of a catwalk show - it's mind-boggling. Did you know that Dries started out as a menswear designer? I didn't. This book is still available in some stores, but I predict not for much longer.