Schooltrip To Antwerp..

This monday and tuesday my Collegue Annemiek and myself made trip with our class (22 students) to Antwerpen. They are in their 2nd year and Antwerp really is a city with a lot of Fashion to have a look at. We arrived at Central Station Antwerpen round 1 o'clock (I took the train from 9.45 from Deventer). The railway-station has just been renovated and now everything was in X-mas mood with X-mas trees everywhere. I always wonder why in Holland you can't put on trees like this in railway stations because the will be broken down in a hour by vandals. A few months ago I watched this video and I always hope something as this would happen to me.. Have a look here. The hostel was only a 5 minutes walk from there and was a basic accommodation (so totally the opposite of my design hotel in Copenhagen). Most of the students were expecting a more "posh" hotel and one even said that a Prison looks even better. ( I than immediately replied: didn't know you were a criminal.....). For me this kind of accommodation is fine too. But some of my students are really spoiled...in the wrong way in my opinion. I was used to camping in my youth and even camped till 15 years ago in very loneley places in Norway were there was hardly a shower). A good bed and a shower is everything one need I always think when I get older.. Students immediately went on a shopping -hunt....and so did we in a way. I spend some wonderful time at Julija's, a yarn store in the Nationalestraat. Could resist this thick alapca.. but couldn't resist to buy some thinner alpaca for a scarf. The sell all patterns from La Droguerie, Japanse patternbooks, haberdashery, Liberty-fabrics (nicely presented in embroidery rings) and much more.. Really a place to visit when you are in Antwerpen. The "Nationalestraat' is in the fashion area of Antwerpen. You find the shops from Dries van Noten, Walter van Beirendock, The Momu (the fashion museum) and the Antwerp fashion academy , the shop from the just went bankrupt Yohji Yamamoto were this coat was partly felted on a black fabric and many more little shops from young designers.. Always wonderful to walk around there but I notice myself that fashion is no longer the most important topic for me.. Happiness has nothing to do with wearing a designer-outfit.. Antwerpen is also the city from eating and drinking and I always love rice pudding cake's as this one.. They taste a bit like the "Budino di Riso" which is my favourite when I am in Italy(and than with a strong espresso..heaven!!), After dinner in a pizzeria we made a little stroll in the festive lighted city and saw more X-mas trees on various squares..More info about Antwerpen can be found here. And just before I was planning to finish this blog-post and post it last week ... I got the Mexican Flu.. so for days I was in and out of bed. Today I feel slightly a little better, but still tired. It seems that this will take a few more days and than I will be fine... But let's continue with the trip to Antwerpen. After a good sleep and a simple breakfast we went with our students to the Momu to see the exhibition about Delvaux who are famous for handbags and suitcases. A very luxury brand (Logo really looks similar to Hermes!!)who's bags usually are bought by very bourgeois women. Nice in a way but also for me not modern enough. We had a very nice guide who was also very critical. The nice thing was that you could see the whole process from design till product and all steps in between as can be seen on this picture. The most common bag is this one. Usually in plain leather but changed by Walter van Beirendonck in yellow- lack leather or with a text about Belgium... The exhibitions in the Momu are always a joy to look and I loved this "Red Room". After visiting the museum we made a "Fashion walk with a Guide" and before we went on (it was raining dreadfully!!!) we had a look at work from students from the famous Fashion Design Academy which is also in the same building as the museum. The project was about "Shape and Moulage:"The guide (lovely person!!)showed us some fashion shops (my favourite Dries van Noten!!) and I especially liked the "gloves- shop" which looked like nothing has done with it since the Fifties. In the afternoon we took the train home packed with "Pralines and Speculoos"... and than...