A Brief Overview of Belgian Fashion History in the Long Nineteenth Century
The French Influence and the Formation of a Belgian Identity
The origins of Belgian fashion date back long before the radical innovations of the Antwerp Six in the 1980s. Even before their emergence, Belgium had a rich, continuous fashion and textile culture that was internationally connected and rooted in craftsmanship and local industry. Even before achieving independence in 1830, the country had a long-standing reputation for producing high-quality textiles, including lace from Bruges and Mechelen, linen from Flanders, and wool from Verviers. This made Belgium a vital player in European fashion and textile networks.
In the nineteenth century, Belgian fashion houses would return from Paris with the latest styles and proudly advertise their imported inspirations with Retour de Paris advertising cards. Although Belgium was often perceived as a center of imitation rather than innovation, it nonetheless fostered strong domestic production networks. Our archival research identified numerous examples of this practice of looking to Paris. One notable example is the polka-dot walking ensemble by Delfosse Soeurs, which exhibits a fashionable aesthetic influenced by Parisian styles. However, the dress was made of cotton, a material closely tied to Belgium’s industrial heritage in Ghent and Mons. Thus, the garment also reflects the importance of local production.
A select group of prestigious department stores, such as Hirsch & Cie, and renowned couturiers, including Emma Bach, catered to an elite clientele. These establishments offered high-end garments that rivaled Parisian creations in sophistication and sometimes incorporated Belgian materials, such as lace, or drew inspiration from Belgian Art Nouveau.
Belgian couturiers catered to a growing bourgeoisie, drawing on the country’s robust textile traditions while navigating the geographic distance between fashion capitals like Paris and Brussels and peripheral cities like Nivelles, Mons, and Liège. An example of this dynamic is the black wedding dress designed by Mme Kurtz-Penning in 1903 and featured in the exhibition. It shows that the style in a town like Nivelles is different than the style of Brussels. During the interwar and postwar periods, Belgian fashion remained largely domestically oriented, with couturiers serving a national clientele rather than seeking international acclaim.
However, the "origin story" of Belgian fashion is incomplete without addressing its deeper entanglements with colonial exploitation, class hierarchies, and archival absences. The wealth that sustained Belgian couture during the Belle Époque was derived, in part, from the violent colonial regime imposed by King Leopold II in the Congo Free State. This wealth came not only from direct financial extraction but also from the circulation of materials such as ivory and dyes that entered domestic fashion production.
Profits from colonial enterprises funded the lifestyles of the elite, urban development, and cultural institutions, including the couture houses and department stores that came to define Belgium’s fashion identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
This uncomfortable legacy lies beneath much of the elegance and refinement associated with garments from that era. Materials such as cotton and rubber, extracted through violent and coercive systems in the Congo Free State, formed a crucial yet invisible foundation of Belgium’s fashion and textile industries. Cotton, cultivated through forced labor, was incorporated into textile production at home, while rubber profits fueled broader industrial growth and consumer culture. Thus, the fashion industry became a place where imperial wealth was made visible, wearable, and desirable, often without acknowledging its colonial origins.
As this exhibition demonstrates, a comprehensive account of Belgian fashion must critically address the political and economic structures that supported it. In this context, elegance is not neutral; it is layered with histories of power, inequality, and silence.
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Nationalism and Colonization: Leopold II
During King Leopold II’s reign (1865–1909), Belgium’s fashion industry underwent a significant transformation. The king’s personal fortune, largely derived from the violent exploitation of the Congo Free State, was invested in grand urban projects, royal architecture, and the social life of the elite, including their clothing.
The upper classes increasingly expressed their elevated status by purchasing clothing made possible through colonial wealth, particularly from the violent extraction of resources such as ivory. Ivory became fashionable as both a luxury material for accessories and a color for garments. There was a growing preference for ivory-toned fabrics that carried aesthetic and symbolic weight, evoking ideals of purity, luxury, and imperial domination. The exhibition features a 1897 corsage by Mlle. Crickx, an ivory-colored piece from the height of Leopold II’s reign. Another example is an ivory-toned design by Mathilde Kirchner et Cie, created shortly after the king’s death, which shows that the aesthetic remained popular.
Colonial wealth also enabled the use of richer materials, more elaborate embroidery, and luxury accessories. At the same time, Belgian designers began incorporating exotic motifs drawn from tropical flora and fauna into textiles and embellishments. These elements catered to and capitalized on European fantasies of the "exotic," reinforcing the imperial gaze through design. These design choices often reflected and reinforced racialized representations of African and Asian cultures, aestheticizing otherness within a European framework of dominance.
World’s fairs and colonial exhibitions played a crucial role in these developments. Urban spaces were redesigned to reflect imperial ambition, and fashion was used as a symbol of national pride and civilizational authority. During official ceremonies and exhibitions, clothing served as a visible symbol of power, projecting Belgium’s self-image as a modern, "civilizing" empire.
While such displays of splendor were admired in their time, they are now viewed more critically. Contemporary perspectives recognize that fashion during this period was deeply enmeshed in systems of colonial violence and inequality. As this exhibition demonstrates, garments expressed not only wealth and aesthetic sophistication but also served as visual evidence of the exploitative structures that supported Belgium’s colonial ambitions.
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Written by Lise Masure
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