FASHION

Belgian Curves

As Belgian designers go, Tim Van Steenbergen's name might be lesser known—though no easier to pronounce—than the likes of Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela and Veronique Branquinho, but his designs are no less...


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As Belgian designers go, Tim Van Steenbergen‘s name might be lesser known—though no easier to pronounce—than the likes of Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Martin Margiela and Veronique Branquinho, but his designs are no less steeped in the defining principles of Antwerp’s avant style. His structured blazers, party dresses and pleated pants are true downtown cool and border on conceptual, but no so much as the giant dresses-turned-wall-art for an installation he mounted at Soho’s Curve boutique on Tuesday night. Inside the Mercer Street shop, which had been cleared of all its stock to showcase Van Steenbergen’s designs, the crowd, including improbable fashion fan Matt Dillon, viewed the exhibition: Two models standing in dresses that were tucked, flounced and corseted à la an old Victorian gown, their skirts draped over an angular frame like a picture. If it sounds hard to grasp, well, Van Steenbergen’s explanation was simple. “Dresses to put on the wall.”

Photos by Astrid Stawairz/ Getty Images