Like the boutique itself, the exhibition 40+ years of STIJL highlights the work of designers. The exhibition is not arranged in chronological order. It is structured around STIJL’s values. What exactly are these values? The designers, collaborators and customers that Aya Noël me to build the exhibition are the best People to explain. They each describe these values in their own way: originality, authenticity, soul,…
These values have been translated into the three main themes of the exhibition: pioneers, insiders and timelessness, referring to the characteristics of the designers as much as to STIJL itself.
To structure the tour, the curator has also considered the role of the boutique. This is what allowed the most avant-garde designs to find a place in everyone’s wardrobe. When STIJL first opened, Belgium was a hotbed of new artistic trends. The first avant-garde fashion designers were the Antwerp Six. Sonja discovered the work of Marina Yee. She persuaded the young designer to sell her prototypes to STIJL. Through her she met the other members of the “6”. From that moment onwards, her close relationship with designers, combined with her ruthless, instinctive selection process opened a window into the precise mechanisms of creation and production that make this fashion so unique.
Text- und Bildquelle : Museumswebsite