Antwerp Fashion Talks: Botter and Klausner on fashion industry challenges

In the eaves of the Botanic Sanctuary, a former monastery now a five-star hotel in the heart of Antwerp, fashion fans and professionals have gathered for the annual Fashion Talks. The room is intimate with its pointed roof and wooden beams, especially when so full. It resembles a clandestine church. This is fitting, as Antwerp is something of a fashion chapel, being the birthplace of the Antwerp Six.

Following them, much more talent emerged from Belgian fashion schools. Two of them are on stage today: Julian Klausner of Dries Van Noten and Rushemy Botter with his partner Lisi Herrebrugh of Botter and G-Star. They speak candidly about freedom, pressure and creativity within a major fashion house.

Just do it: Botter

Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrebrugh, the Dutch design duo behind Botter, continue to break new ground. They had a flying start with their own label in 2018, immediately winning major fashion awards. This was followed by the creative directorship at Nina Ricci and later for G-Star's Raw Research pinnacle line. What have the two learned from these rapid leaps?

The couple was in Rushemy's mother's kitchen when the headhunter called. Nina Ricci was a different kettle of fish: a more classic style and a larger company. Lisi: "Suddenly you had a huge team. The first week we were googling what everyone's job entailed. What does a communications director do? We did not want to let on that we did not know. Now we can be honest about it. We had no idea."

Consciously naive choices

Rushemy describes their acceptance of the role at Ricci as a consciously naive choice. There was no fear of taking on something big. It was not about prestige either, he says: "More a feeling of: we have a foot in the door. We are playing in the Champions League. We are going to Paris, that was a dream for us."

Nina Ricci needed the two for their 'cool factor'. Conversely, the Botter brand required visibility and funding, which was possible with the income from their work in Paris. "All the money we earned, we invested in Botter. The plan was for Botter to grow on its own. However, the reality is that Botter is very creative, Covid-19 hit, and we needed more to keep it alive and going, to continue our dream."

On the first day at Nina Ricci, an inflatable unicorn was waiting for the Botters - a symbol of the freedom that awaited them. The promise was carte blanche. That turned out to be quite a disappointment; there was a lot of pressure, says Lisi. "First you feel the pressure of the numbers. Then you have to be rigid in your vision. After a few years, it was time to move on."

Denim novices

At G-Star, they came in as denim novices. Now they are learning a lot, and it is enjoyable: from how the weaves are put together to the correct position of the fly. That helps to shake up such a company from the inside, says Rushemy. "Denim fanatics know everything, but rarely speak out - there are silent rules. We ask the questions and want to hear the answers that the company had come to take for granted."

Botter as a label was quiet for a while, but a relaunch is coming. "It's going to be sick," says Rushemy. He is not always so positive. There were also periods when they asked each other: will we ever be inspired again? "Sometimes we both feel miserable, then we are very quiet. The one who feels slightly less miserable has to pull the other out of it. We fight this together. It truly is a fight. You fight for your beliefs, for your design, for paying the rent, and for the survival of your company."

Praise for Klausner

Big shoes to fill? Klausner walks in them effortlessly. The brand-new creative director who succeeded Dries Van Noten is received like a superstar in Antwerp. Michelle Obama also wants him to continue this way, begins moderator Chioma Nnadi of British Vogue. Instead of going along with his star status, Klausner calmly explains how he came to his position.

Klausner grew up in Brussels and studied at La Cambre. He eventually ended up in Dries van Noten's Antwerp studio through connections, six years before his appointment as creative director. He describes his promotion as a careful, professional process. It was not just Dries' personal preference; he had to prove himself mainly to senior management.

"Moving into Dries' office was a strange moment for me. It still felt like his office; it is a very special place. It took a while before I felt comfortable in that space.”

Adapting

He learned from Dries not to give up when things go wrong, as it happens constantly. "Dries never wasted time on frustration or disappointment when things did not work or looked different than hoped. He reacted quickly, adapted fast and used setbacks to his advantage. You have to be able to bounce back quickly."

When asked about the archive, amidst high expectations, Klausner has to disappoint. It is an organised system where you mainly see a lot of black garment bags. He describes what Dries has created in forty years as a balance between dream and reality. This is the house's trademark, and Klausner explicitly adheres to it.

"There was always a lot of storytelling and fantasy within the house; however, we also have wardrobes to fill. The goal is to make a piece of clothing that serves someone and gives them joy or excitement. There is nothing more satisfying than someone wearing the pieces time and again, and still with the same affection decades later."

If he has to choose between too daring or too safe and commercial, he chooses the former. "That is also the spirit of the house and of the Antwerp designers: creativity must remain a priority." It is his ode to Dries.

Creative ping-pong

To students and young designers, he advises: dare to make mistakes and explain why something appeals to you. Dries called that creative ping-pong. "To play ping-pong well, you have to be able to explain your choices well.”

When asked what it means to be a Belgian designer, he says: "As a Belgian, you do not take yourself too seriously from the outset. There was hardly any fashion heritage in Antwerp, so the first wave of designers, the Antwerp Six, had everything still to do. There was no weight of a particular heritage or anything to be compared with. That provides a certain creative freedom. The idea of luxury is also not as present here. It is more about quality and creative integrity — something that has meaning and is made with intention. "

FashionUnited travelled to Antwerp at the invitation of Flanders District of Creativity.