Antwerp has enlisted online style gurus to help promote it as a shopping Mecca. ISABEL CONWAYjoined them
ANTWERP’S unsuspecting shoppers passed them with hardly a glance. They were like quicksilver, dodging in and out of the traffic and around rich shopaholics laden down with designer bags.
The group was travelling incognito, but when one of them, a young woman known as Susie Bubble, arrived at the Belgian city’s exclusive Louis store, staff knew immediately who she was.
As one of Europe's most influential fashion bloggers, 24-year-old Susanna Lau is "often imitated but never duplicated", according to Teen Vogue, and her kooky musings have earned this "fashion pioneer" a place near the front at the Paris and London collections.
Lau and others from the cream of Europe’s fashion bloggers were in Antwerp earlier this month as part of an innovative ploy to promote the city as a fashion Mecca.
The bloggers’ challenge during the first Antwerp Fashion Hunt was to charge off with a folder of photographs of mystery locations and must-have items that ranged from gloves, glasses and bespoke perfume to a fire-engine-red cabriolet mini and shoes that cost as much as a second-hand car. The competitors had to hunt down and photograph all of them as fast as they could.
Antwerp’s fashion trail had begun with a look at the restored Victorian grandeur of Central Station – since its mega makeover one of the world’s most beautiful railway stations. Then some of us moved on to the bling interior of the City Festival Hall, which burned down in 2000 but has since reopened as a shopping centre, complete withFr a floating champagne bar, in search of clues.
Antwerp’s shopping districts have something for every taste and pocket, from Chanel, Versace and Valentino to Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester and more recent arrivals, such as Raf Simons.
The bloggers roamed from retro bargains lurking in quirky shops on centuries-old lanes to the latest arrivals in the city’s fashion bazaars.
As the French blogger Alix Bancourt, aka the Cherry Blossom Girl, put it: “Who would have thought that Antwerp had so much to offer? Contemporary pieces, vintage, exciting new designers and the big haute couture names. They are all here. It’s a wonderful city and has the grand architecture and good restaurants and bars as well.”
The fashionistas took their hunt very seriously for the most part. Susie Bubble and her boyfriend, the blogger Steve Salter of Style Salvage, lost time and points after getting distracted by the eye-popping glasses at Theo, which is renowned for its weird and wonderful specs.
Another of the group, the Parisian Frédérique Poissonnier, was more like a reporter doorstepping a politician than a style icon. Her Miss Glitzy blog is all about her obsession with shoes – objects of which she takes endless photographs. “I started my blog to share my passion for shoes but I keep it independent. I am low key . . . Nobody had ever seen my face until it went on Facebook,” she writes.
The winners, once all the teams arrived at the Désiré de Lille waffle house, were Yara – the 20-year-old blogger behind This Chick’s Got Style – and Renée Sturme, an expert at mismatching and layering, who loves 1960s and 1970s vintage and hates trends.
After hours on the run, Zuiderterras, a ship-like restaurant “moored” on the right bank of the River Scheldt, with panoramic views over the water and the city, was the final stop on the bloggers’ hunt. Its frites were delicious.
The bloggers were also impressed by the fries on offer in Antwerp's 200 or so frituren, or chip shops – the Rubens of the deep-fried world, according to Lonely Planet.
So what did the Sturme spend her winner’s voucher on? What else but a pair of gravity-defying shoes?
Where to stay
Hotel ’t Sandt. Zand 13-19, 00-32-3-2329390, hotel-sandt.be. Within a couple of minutes of the old city and close to Kloosterstraat’s retro and antique shops. Peaceful, traditional interior and feel; each room individually styled.
Hotel Julien. Korte Nieuwstraat 24, 00-32-3- 2290600, hotel-julien.com. Stunning contemporary design in a historic building. Close to top attractions and restaurants.
Patine. Leopold de Waelplaats 1, 00-32-3-2570919, bedandbreakfastantwerpen.be. Homely apartments over a family-run business renowned for its pastries and good-value dish of the day, cheeses and wines. Café Hopper, the best jazz cafe in town, is across the street.
Where to eat
Bien Soigné. Kleine Markt 9, 00-32-3-2936318, bien- soigne.be. The €25 three- course lunch is a bargain: delicious food in a refined but friendly atmosphere.
Drop in to book a table – this is a small restaurant – while you’re browsing in the neighbourhood’s great shops.
Dansing Chocola. Kloosterstraat 159, 00-32-3-2371905. Drift in for a drink or a bite to eat at any time, for reasonable prices, a laid-back feel, daily specials such as home-made quiches, curry and giant salads for about €8-€12. Distressed art-deco interior and lots of atmosphere, with music some evenings. A favourite hang-out for shoppers in search of used designer gear and bargain antiques.
Where to shop
The bloggers fell in love with one of Antwerp’s oldest shops, Huis A Boon (Lombardenvest 2, 00-32-3-2323387) – small and unassuming on the outside but a trove of high-quality gloves within, and almost unchanged since it first opened, in 1884. A seamstress who was repairing the silk lining of a pair of bespoke gloves added to the charm.
Vintage and more recent second-hand designer clothes were irresistible to the bloggers. Antwerp has a number of outstanding outlets, detailed in a great little book, Antwerp Fashion Walk, that you can pick up from Antwerp Tourism at Grote Markt 13 (00-32-3-2320103, antwerpen.be).
Labels Inc (Aalmoezenierstraat 4, 0032-3-2326056, labelsinc.be) was everyone’s favourite. It stocks Belgian labels at a third of their normal price. I saw an ultrasoft Chloé wool dress for just €70, as well as nearly-new Dries Van Noten menswear.
Exhibitions and other events are always going on in Antwerp. Steve Salter of Style Salvage was in his element at the celebration of 180 years of the family-owned Belgian luxury leather-goods company Delvaux. His must-have item was a newspaper bag, big enough to carry a laptop, with a woven toile-de-cuir exterior – “in the silent luxury bracket; such a shame it is so darn expensive”. The exhibition is at ModeMuseum (Nationalestraat 28, 00-32-3-4702770, momu.be) until February 21st next year.
Go there
Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies from Dublin to Brussels, 45km by bus or train from Antwerp. Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies from Dublin and Shannon to Brussels South, which is about 90 minutes from Antwerp.
See antwerpen.be, shopping inantwerp.be, use-it.be and face book.com/antwerp.fashion