Delving into Delvaux

It's been over a week that this post title has been sitting in the vestiges of my brain chamber and for a while, I was lazing about posting this deluge of Delvaux images but I had to do my Delvaux delving after seeing the retrospective exhibition at Antwerp's MOMU museum last weekend.  The first time I actually even came across the name Delvaux was not alas, through the bags themselves as they're not widely sold in the UK, but through the wonderful India Knight's 2003 book The Shops.  Knight happens to be a descendent of a Belgian prime minister so she's pretty well versed in all things Belgique…  she described Delvaux bags as being like 'family heirloom' and recommended Delvaux for its quality because along with companies, like Herm√®s, it uses continues stitching on their bags to prevent thread uprisings/knotting. 

This of course means nothing to a complete no-bag-boho like me but I'll just assume that like its French counterparts, Delvaux's emphasis is on long lasting craftsmanship.  What is fascinating to me though, is that Delvaux, established in 1829, is actually one of the oldest luxury brands still in existence (older than Louis Vuitotn est. 1854 and Hermes est 1837) but for some reason, has never gained the sort of international recognition that the Vuittons/Hermes have and is still inherently a very Belgian-insider brand.  So it was interesting to really get to grips with this brand in the exhibition and discovering a surprising side to Delvaux (e.g. had no idea Martin Margiela created a bag for Delavux when he was still a student back in 1983…) through its curation of photos, recreation models, archive material and of course the bags themselves… 

Wig cases?

Like Louis Vuitton, Delvaux started as a company that started as a travel-goods shop capitalising on the use of horse-drawn carriage, and later rail, ship and air that revolutionised travel…

Steve (who stole my blog post title…) was particularly enamoured with this newspaper bag designed by Bruno Pieters as part of his guest designer collaboration with Delvaux for A/W 08-9

I loved the timeline that formed the first part of the exhibition showing the progression of shapes that Delvaux developed and actually surprisingly, there were shapes that I think were quite progressive for the brand considering the time…

Fluro yellow tennis series to celebrate Kim Clijsters becoming the first Belgian to be ranked number 1…

I'm hoping I can still seek out this 'Ceci n'est pas un Delvaux' bag from 2008, which of course is a tribute to fellow Belgian Ren√© Magritte as well as the three cases below made as special editions for Magritte's 100th birthday in 1998…

The bits I liked the most from the exhibition was probably the recreation of Delvaux's studio environment, to try and really 'delve' into the creation process of a bag, the pattern cutting, the leather treatments…

Another collaborator Hannelore Knuts createdd this bag for the A/W 08-9 collection…apologies, mis-read captions…I think this is a protype made out of grey leather synthesis… I kind of like the texture of this artificial looking material…

I also loved the campaign imagery which of course I've rarely encountered in UK publications…

The exhibition ends on a hopeful note as of course Veronique Branquinho was made creative director of Delvaux recently and thus this may herald a new direction for the brand that could well see it leaping beyond the borders of Belgian insider luxury…