Antwerpian Trails

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To be fair, this really can't be used as some sort of yardstick guide for Antwerpian shopping seeing as a) my priority was to spend some much needed quality time with the boyf (wifi free!) and b) I was shopping on a seasonal weekend where stock sales were rife which sort of skews the actual retail scene a little bit.  I'd refer back to my ye olde posts on Antwerp or better yet go there yourself and explore as changes are aplenty and my now very dated post looks incredibly old.  As opposed to a mass of purchases, what I did get was a lovely long gander with the boyf snapping random things and my new Nike x Liberty print shoes nicely scuffed due to all the walking…

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So this was the first time I had done the stock sales or stockverkoop in Antwerp.  The word "stock" as opposed to "sample" is really far more applicable in the case of the sales in Antwerp because as well as clothes, you also get your picking at the fabrics that the designers have used…bolts and bolts of the stuff going for bargainous prices and if a sewing machine (STILL haven't got one yet…) was in my posession I'd be buying up metres of the stuff.  Thus the sales attracted a concentration of mostly middle aged women buying up a ton of fabric.  The clothes were in genera,l in mass abundance, in a wide range of sizes and there was no rampant grabbing or snatching.  The prices were not rock bottom but reasonable (EUR50-EUR300).  Granted, I am a seasoned sample sale shopper who's hawking for serious bargains so generally, I felt the penny pinch and the fact that the EUR is basically on parity with the pound meant that I was rather unwilling to spend spend spend.  That said, you've been saving up all year and you choose to blow your load at the stockverkoops, you'd really would have a proper coup on your hands given the selection (see what I did there? Eh, eh?) 

IMG_4238Of course, each sale had its various quirks and alas, most of them I passed up on in terms of buys.  Ann Demeulemeester was a wee bit disappointing actually with most of the pieces being rather lacklustre and not AS discounted as I thought.  If I had more moolah, I would have gone for a few Haider Ackermann pieces (which was a joint sale Ann D), suede draped jackets and long flowing bias-cut skirts (really feeling the long skirt at the moment…) in particular taking my fancy.  Not being able to take out more than EUR300 from the ATM prevented me from going all out at this particular sale.  Did get a EUR20 skirt that I'm trying to figure out with all the straps…

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Dries Van Noten was a perkier affair.  It was HUUUUUGE for a start and a literal assault on the senses of sight and touch.  If you like to get a bit fruity with fabrics, you might wee yourself at this sale.  Van Noten is a master of choosing fabrics, treating them and mixing up the colours.  The rails were well organised visual feasts and that's with people constantly picking stuff up and putting them back down again.  I did this with about 15 pieces and in the end plumped for one lone tangerine gradiated silk jacket (EUR100).  The trouble with Dries for me is the sizing for some reason swamps me a little (and no, that's not the vain thin person inside of me talking…), with everything cut a bit looser, longer and um…floatier than what I'd normally prefer.  So I did a lot of touching and feeling up but not a lot of actual buying…

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Brunopietpleat Bruno Pieters was actually my favourite sale of the lot though again, only bought one thing.  The ONE sole thing that I did buy though was a special Pieters recognition piece from the S/S 07 collection.  Back when Shop at Bluebird were a little bit edgier with their buying, they used to stock Pieters and it was this collection that I fawned and coo-ed over in particular.  This navy super pleated organza jacket was on sale for EUR150 and I literally zoomed into it and said "Hey that's the pleating detail I kept on heavy petting two years ago!". 

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Other stock sale miss-outs included a pair of wedge lace-up snakeskin boots at A.F. Vandevorst and a number of interesting pieces at Tim van Steenbergen, a designer I should investigate more given he's quite established in Belgium.  Veronique Branquinho was a bit of miss for me too other than a Victorian black tail coat.  General shopping miss outs scarily included a vintage-by-the-pound garage sale and a very tempting selection of past season stock at the boutique Sien…  there must have been some sort of a shopper's block going on for me not to have scored anything about a by-the-pound place but there you go… I come back with my two fancy jackets that I shall be playing around with.  Apologies for the excessive talk of fabric heavy petting.

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41 comments

  1. i’m belgian and i love antwerpen. i wrote a post about shopping there on my blog a few weeks ago but it’s in french…

  2. Ok, those two jackets are JUST ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! Seriously envious of your Antwerp time-out. Obviously deserved time away 😀 Looking gorgeous as ever and quite relaxed in the first photo 🙂 Those stock sales certainly sound like an adventure. Quality over quantity is probably a good thing 😀
    Xxxc

  3. The Bruno Pieters jacket is awesome… What an interesting, if enviable, find. It must be cool to finally be able to buy the clothing you swooned over a few seasons ago.

  6. Your Dries jacket looks much nicer here than the first blurry picture you posted while mobile! (expectedly)
    Although still no comparison to the gorgeous pleats of the Pieters 🙂
    I’m looking forward to seeing how you tie them into your wardrobe~

  7. I AM SO JEALOUS. I got numerous e-mails about the Antwerp stock sales, and read them over and over again with tears welling in the corners of my eyes, knowing that there was no way I would be able to make it.
    But I’m happy for YOU!!

  8. That does look like a dreamy time… You look like you made out quite well, despite the iffy exchange rates… I didn’t know that stock sales involved sales of fabric. So old school. I love it! And love that Bruno Pieters jacket on you as well.

  12. i love both those jackets. sometimes it feels nice to look at everything and then just come away with one or two amazing pieces. in a way you get to enjoy them more because you don’t feel stressed at having spent all your money!

  13. Love the Bruno Pieters jacketm it looks divine. You may have to watch out for random people feeling it up when you’re out and about it it!

  17. Great finds! Is there anything interesting pieces from Labelsinc? From all that i know they have the cheapest past season Belgian designers around.
    Oh ya, seems like you don’t fancy Margiela stuff, correct me if I’m wrong? 🙂

  19. mmm this post reminds me…now that winter’s coming to sydney, i need jackets that’ll actually keep me warm instead of just looking pretty…

  20. love the jackets, esp. the dries. they look amazing on you. i loved the way you told the story too, very entertaining post.

  25. I was there as well, bought lots of fabric. Didn’t you visit Veronique Branquinho? It was near Dries van Noten.

  27. Quality over quantity! 😉 I absolutely adore that blue pleated jacket – its stunning – and I imagine you’ll get loads of wear out of it. And the Orange Dries jacket is perfect with the purple.

  29. That Bruno Pieters jacket is gorgeous…I would be patting the details myself! I have a dress that has pleating on the shoulders and pockets and I always keep touching it. The funny thing is that my boyfriend loves the details and keeps touching them too!

  31. looks like you came upon some fab finds! nothing quite like finding a piece you lusted after a while back on prime discount 🙂

  34. I love Antwerp, but don’t you find that the locals will blatantly stare at anyone that looks a bit different?

  35. Both jackets are delish! great picks honey. The pleating on the Bruno is marvelous.
    muah x
    marian.

  40. susie you lucky girl spotting that sublimely pleated bruno bolero! i as well was in love with that piece! i’m sure you will treasure it. and it looks even more extraordinary in that light. 150E???! that’s almost absurd for such an intricate piece.

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