the TPP

As a Top Priority Performance this time around. I’m delighted to hear the great news – Ad-apte is in Brussels with their new work. Once they taught me what the theatre world is about!

Strange melancholy ranging from boredom to heartache, shame, regret, longing for something that won’t ever let me be like duck out of water, forgiven or forgotten. Things I want to do, people I want to see…scrolling down the phonebook list, realizing that calling Belgium is a double-pay, calling Germany makes me some king of absurd stalker…we’re going out with colleagues tonight, and in the comfort of my hotel room I’m choosing what to wear to match the mood, the melancholy…tying a bow around my neck makes me look like an Easter bunny. That’s fine.

Chic Belgique

It seems the good old saying is true…no, just think about it, and especially if you live in Cologne…the grass is always greener on the other side! A day spent in search of the fresh and new, and the expectations to find endless amount of lesser known young design gems all handcrafting their wonders of fashion in the style similar to early Stephan Schneider work has been of no avail – the young designer neighbourhood is called the Belgian quarter (Belgische Viertel) and the most fashion-forward shops are selling the Belgians. This is no Amsterdam, and even no Brussels (which makes me think that I should do the city guide for my native town). Yet there are places to visit, designer names to know, and you can begin the visit by dropping by the brand new COS store – the opening is scheduled for the 28th of March, and do not forget the American Apparel across the street (they are both on Ehrenstr.), and off you go to the Belgian quarter located around Rudolfplatz, between Hohenzollernring and Moltkestrasse, on either side of Aachener Strasse. The first shop that grabs attention is Ludvik - Palmstrasse 43. It’s the designer atelier shop and showroom, well all that in one and in considerably tiny space. There’s one garment of each design, the styles aren’t entirely coherent in the silhouettes and the choice of fabric, but they never have to be, right? The cutie cape is now in my possession and three pages are in the ‘Young European Fashion Designers’ book alongside Sophie D’Hoore and Peter Bertsch.


Further on is Magasin Populaire on Brüsseler Platz 8. As a retail point for local young brands such as Subjektiva, mootwo, Forvert, Else it seems to be an attractive destination for a shopper like me (or I should rather say ‘the searcher’ since I mostly look but do not touch), yet I found it hard to see where are the locals and where are the well known brands – they are also stockists for Sessun, Shoe’shi Bar and Daydream Nation, and the entire slightly trashed presentation did not do me. On the contrary, I just couldn’t resist the Blutsgeschwister shop at Brüsselerstrasse 82, and it’s not about the clothes! The tiny room at the back of the shop with a fountain and plenty of kitschy colourful children clothing is an eye-catcher.


You also get the Blauer Montag on Limburger Str. But a big angry dog in the shop did not let me to come in (I’m not kidding)



and the vintage store California Select (by American Apparel) is on Maastrichter Strasse. Yet my true coup de cœur was Gold ( Antwerpener Str. 13) – a simple and tasteful retail point for Ann-Sofie Back, A.P.C., Stephan Schneider, Kaviar Gauche, Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, etc… there was nothing that surprised me or that I did not know of before (except from very friendly Sebastian;), but happened to be the only shop where I could just live in - great selection, sober presentation, and praiseworthy taste in music.


There are still places remaining to visit during lunch breaks or after work. Tomorrow I’m off to Dusseldorf to get busy with re-matching in the COS store over there, so it sounds like a busy day at last.

AA

So here I am in Cologne, already had a moment to peek my nose into a nice looking tiny little shop, just around the corner from the hotel. Also around the corner is the Starbucks, i.e. the best cheesecake on Earth, which I’ll be devouring every morning. My internet connection as also good news, since my lovely Vaio is catching some unsecured wireless network – every day blogging is guaranteed…better publish before whomever is the owner goes to bed and switches it off.

the call

One call I’m not going to miss – the call for young fashion students/designers in Belgium to send in their portfolios for the first edition of the Fashion Academy Award. An initiative of the Goethe-Institute in Brussels, an attempt to build a network between fashion schools and support young upcoming designers sounds very promising indeed, as you get to see their list of prizes that are ranging from 25.000 euro to the Galeries Lafayette award. The brief directions that can be found on their website say that all competitors should submit an A4
(21x29,7 cm) portfolio with at least five original colour drawings and ten sketches of ten outfits for a 2008 collection. They should include a complete technical description, material and colour samples, a creative visual representation (photo) of a prototype (complete outfit) that has been designed for the collection, and a concept for the collection that explains the basic idea of the collection. Standard stuff, and they are asking for ten silhouettes to be sent to Rue Belliardstraat 58, 1040 Brussels.

yesterday's black dice and today's white stripes

Well, the former is meant pretty literally, the latter is a silly pun of course, which makes the perfect sense to me…and although the Black Dice felt a bit out of place on a Wednesday night, the subtle twist moves or headbanging does not come honest out of me in the middle of the week when all the friends and friends of the friends nimbly flee to take their trains/cars. But yet another nice show at Recylcart - I’m glad that we have this one-of-the-kind recycled train station to give so much joy of a concert venue.

The rest of the city seemed pretty boring to me. I did start my day-off (stillness before storm – Sunday leaving to Colonge will bring work and only work) rummaging through the heaps of junk at the Marolles . After several hours spent knee and elbow deep in dusty piles I left with only one silly sweater with some blurry pastel coloured print and a few pieces of jewellery. My find of the week is a golden broche which is reminiscent of Viveka Bergstrom’s work, and it’s quite massive for a broche, thus most likely to be used to create drapery on t-shirts which I seem to be accumuilating with a speed of light breaching all boundaries…and I do not mean the amount of those t-shirts ( since ‘too many’ in my words is below 10 anyhow)…with the shame of admittance I bought my first stripy tee!

White stripes/black stripes have always been my favourite object of derision with a fixed reference to the 14 year old's...Look at me know!

the one to watch

Just writing to mention one interesting name…and no wonder that I got it out of the pages of Blend, I look holes through the mag…so one little word to mention about Florieke Aalbers. Flipping once again through the December issue, and finding once again a portfolio page of this Artez art academy graduate that gives me what I like – sculpted but loose, draped but with controlled volumes, coloured but pale, washed out and natural. I see fashion at its ease and a name to follow.