Rooftops and Antwerp

It is probably in every touristic brochure by now, but if you ever go to Antwerp, you must go to the MAS. The Museum Aan de Stroom is quite an iconic building, but it's best side is definitely the rooftop. After you've taken nine escalators and one regular stairs, you will see one of Antwerp's finest views.
I love coming here in the evening, when the museum has al ready closed it's doors. When it's nice and quiet and there aren't a lots of visitors. Add a beautiful sunset, and it will be a perfect night.

Oh and the good part, since the rooftop is independent of the museum, you don't have to pay any entrance. It's free!

dress JBC - jacket Steps - glasses Primark - flipflops H&M

Living Fashion - Exhibition

Currently there is a very interesting exposition in Antwerp's fashion museum MoMu. It's about daily fashion during 1750 en 1950, showed in different sections.

The first section starts with a comparison of low-and high-budget dresses. Or in current fashion language: the originals and the knock-offs.

Like these dresses from the 1870's for example. They might look the same from our view, but if you take a closer look you might see differences in fabric and cut.

The dress on the left belonged to a fashionista / trendsetter and the one on the right was a simpler copy.

Other sections are: home, pregnant, double usage, dressed/undressed, masquerade, sports, travelling, shopping, ...

I was amazed to hear that women back then had just a few dresses. Even the rich people had about 3 to 5 pieces! They added variety to their gowns with demountable aprons, collars, ribbons, drags, ... Creativity is definitely something of all times.

Further it's quit hard to imagine for us that every piece is handmade. They ordered their clothing at a tailor and waited for months until it was finished or they simply made it themselves.
Things started to change since the 1850's. The Industrial Revolution had many cause-effects. Departments stores and shopping galleries appeared, people went more often outside for a walk. It was all about seeing and being seen. Shopping became a pastime, costumes to shop were designed with innovations (nouveautés) every season.
It's all rather hard to imagine for us, but it was a huge difference for them to change from custom-made clothing to ready-made clothing.

And one more strange thing: many mannequins stand on the ground, no pedestals are used, and with the thought in mind that every dress is tailor-made, they all look so frigging tiny !

Summarized:
It's a very interesting exhibition if you ever wondered what people wore back in the old days and what the differences are now. You have the chance to take a very close look and see all the details. Definitely a must if you're interested in fashion !
(A little tip, the MoMu is a very international focused museum, you will understand everything perfectly and further I recommend a guide, I regret the times I visited one of their exhibitions without one!)

Living Fashion, MoMu Antwerp, till the 12th of August
source pictures

Hi Antwerp!

Last Wednesday I went to Antwerp with a friend. Since I study and live in Ghent I haven't been there that much. My friend Lynn showed me a whole new cute place, shown a little bit in the first picture. Further we decided to buy pralines and take them with us on our adventure!
And I still love my vintage skirt from Think Twice! Oh isn't that an amazing shop? :)
Maybe you're familiar with Antwerp, maybe you're not, but take a look at the pictures if you're interested!
Love, Siel

by the way, I'm wearing Collistar's black glittery nailpolish from the previous post

Taking the tunnel underneath the canal

Yummy!

Hello famous cathedral of Antwerp!

It's getting dark

Time to go back to Ghent. Bye Antwerp!