Aldo Gigli · Co-founder of the Mirano Continental · set designer and graphic artist

The Importance of Fashion at the Mirano

The Mirano Continental was not just a nightclub. During the 1980s, the club regularly hosted fashion shows, contests and evenings centred on modelling, bringing fashion and live performance into the world of Brussels nightlife.

Among these events, the 'Devenir Mannequin' contest remained in the venue's memory: a stage used to DJs and spotlights became, for one evening, a podium where the public met the world of fashion.

The Belgian press followed this contest for years, from the 'helping hand' described by Le Soir in 1992 to its opening to 15-30 year-olds in 1999: a springboard for young people dreaming of the profession, in Belgium and internationally.

In 1983, RTBF devoted a report to the “Devenir Mannequin 83” contest at the Mirano, with journalist Joseph Lewkowicz. On 12 December 1989, the magazine Marie Claire organised a fashion show at the Mirano around model Dominique Goossens, watched by Carl De Moncharline, who would gradually succeed him from 1991.

Another Marie Claire show was held at the Mirano in 1986 or 1987, captured by Michel Godfroid Meding, then a beginner photographer. He recalls: “My friend Renaud, a model at New and a barman there, had given me an invitation. I was placed on the balcony next to the lighting operators with my monopod, the Contax RTS 2 and the 300 mm Carl Zeiss (no autofocus), 160 T film pushed to 640 ISO.” His pictures, shot from the balcony in very low light, bring back the exact atmosphere of those evenings: saturated colour, grain, movement.

The album below brings together the surviving fashion show photographs from the archives: the Marie Claire shows of 1986-87 and 1989, Charles Dorfeuil's 1983 autumn-winter presentation and 1980s catwalks, from the science-fiction set to the golden lamés.

Source: Le Soir, 25 février 1992 →Source: Le Soir, 9 avril 1999 →Source: Forbes Belgique, « L'Eugénie des grandeurs », août 2025 →

Photo album: fashion shows at the Mirano Continental, 1980s. Photos © Olivier Hennebert, © Mark Stevens and © Michel Godfroid Meding, some credits: DR. Click the picture to browse the album.

Marie Claire fashion show, the duo in white, 1986-87

Colour photograph, vertical format. On the catwalk, a couple of models in off-white are dancing: she wears a long-sleeved draped dress, gloves and golden jewellery; he wears a white shirt and trousers. Hand in hand, profile to profile, they form a pas de deux: at the Mirano, fashion was choreographed like a stage performance.

Colour photograph, vertical format. A model walks by, a royal-blue floppy hat pulled down over his gaze, checked shirts layered in every shade of blue beneath a pale jacket. Taken at close range, the image catches the bearing of the show: the wardrobe becomes a silhouette, drawn by the bluish stage light. — Marie Claire fashion show, the blue hat, 1986-87

Colour photograph, vertical format. Two performers with their bodies entirely painted blue, wearing briefs, trade emerald-green brogues in a head-on choreography, in front of the room's pale curtains. Between dance and happening, the show tips into performance: at the Mirano, fashion was also played with the body. — Marie Claire fashion show, the blue bodies, 1986-87

Colour photograph, vertical format. A model in a saffron-orange ensemble, striped jacket and tapered trousers, a tall black feathered hat and matching muff, black gloves, walks the catwalk in front of a curtain of cold light. The contrast of warm hues against the bluish background gives the silhouette the presence of a poster. — Marie Claire fashion show, the saffron silhouette, 1986-87

Colour photograph, vertical format. Two models in glossy black leather, tall hats, giant earrings and black gloves, bright-red skirts and tops, walk head-on under the spotlights. The shine of the vinyl and the frankness of the red compose a fashion image straight out of the 1980s. — Marie Claire fashion show, black leather and bright red, 1986-87

Colour photograph, vertical format. Two silhouettes walk side by side, golden-yellow caps: on the left, an electric-blue suit; on the right, a multicoloured patchwork jacket over blue, a long black veil spread out behind. The danced stride and the bold colours sum up the spirit of the Mirano fashion shows. — Marie Claire fashion show, the yellow caps, 1986-87

Colour photograph, vertical format. A model crosses the catwalk, a long flowing grey coat worn over bluish checked shirts, matching hat, hands in pockets. The layering and the play of blues give the silhouette a comic-strip elegance. — Marie Claire fashion show, the grey coat, 1986-87

Colour photograph, horizontal format. Against a black background, a musician in a checked suit plays the flute while a copper-haired model in golden earrings listens, head tilted back. In 1983, the autumn-winter presentation by couturier Charles Dorfeuil at the Mirano was already staged as theatre: fashion, music and the night were one. — Charles Dorfeuil Autumn-Winter presentation, 1983

Colour photograph, horizontal format. In front of a grey partition studded with film reels, dials and levers, a model in a white officer's uniform, navy cap and black gloves, holds a red microphone like a sceptre. The science-fiction set turns the catwalk into a control room: at the Mirano, a fashion show was never more than a pretext for telling a story. — Fashion show at the Mirano, the space shuttle, 1980s

Black-and-white photograph, horizontal format. On the Mirano stage, seven models compose a final tableau: fabric knotted into turbans, draped waist sashes, oversized jackets and cropped trousers, somewhere between Japanese influence and bohemian flair. The bodies hold themselves as on a theatre stage, faces raised to the light. — Fashion show at the Mirano, the final tableau, 1980s

Colour photograph, horizontal format. Against a bright orange wall, three dancer-models come down a staircase in silver and gold lamé, shiny caps and sequinned necklaces, barefoot, fabrics spread in motion. The show becomes dance: fashion at the Mirano was played with the energy of a performance, in the bold colours Aldo Gigli loved to give his sets. — Fashion show at the Mirano, the golden lamés, 1980s

Colour photograph, vertical format. In the golden light of the Mirano, a model poses seated on a yellow pedestal, short dark jacket with square shoulders, high golden bun, dangling earrings, a black glove in hand, while a second silhouette turns its back, outlined against the luminous set. In 1987-88, designer Yota Angelaki had her clothing photographed at the Mirano: the nightclub served as a photo studio, somewhere between theatre and fashion showcase. — Fashion at the Mirano, the Yota Angelaki clothing, 1987-88

Press cutting. The 20th election of young Belgian models, created in 1969 by Robert Malengreau, drew a record crowd: a giant “20 years” cake on stage, winners Mathilda Ba and Pierre Adam, runners-up Anne Monjardin and Serge Di Troia, audience prize to Anne Monjardin and Yves Desemberg. The first “Bravos de la mode belge” went to Olivier Strelli, Jean-Pierre Grafe, Claude Delacroix, Pierre Bruylandt, Alain Berlinblau, Etienne Russo and Jean-Pierre Mels. — L'Événement no. 198, 1989: “Devenir Mannequin” turns 20

Press cutting. The Belgian final of the Smirnoff Fashion Award took place at the Mirano Continental: twenty-five countries competing under the New Age theme, a “strictly fashion” presentation run by the Mirano hosts. Vera Vandenbosch, a student at the Antwerp Academy, won the press and audience prizes in Belgium, then the international runner-up prize behind Spain's Fransesc Grau Tomas. Pictured: Patricia Duprez, Vera Vandenbosch, Sylvie Louagie and Billie Mertens. — Modis, 7 September 1991: the Smirnoff Award

Press cutting. The “Devenir Mannequin” 93 election is again held at the Mirano Continental, under the aegis of Robert Malengreau, the contest's creator, and Christine Forgeur (New Models Agency). Katty Rogge and Mehdi Guendil are elected; Olivier Strelli chairs the jury, assisted by Nick Roger and fashion journalist Nathalie Descamps. At the foot of the page, Patrick Socks's “Pirate” night at the Café d'Anvers, with Jean-Pierre Mels and Michel De Winte. — Top Night & Day, May 1993: Becoming a Model at the Mirano

1983 RTBF report at the Mirano Continental, presented by journalist Joseph Lewkowicz. That year, the “Devenir Mannequin” contest brought twelve boys and twelve girls onto the club's stage. Robert Malengreau, presenter and creator of the contest, and Dominique Fache, head of a modelling agency, explain the challenge thrown at Belgian public opinion: to get the modelling profession recognised and to prove that a career, including an international one, can start from Belgium. — “Devenir Mannequin 83” at the Mirano Continental, 1983

1989 archive recording at the Mirano Continental. The magazine Marie Claire organised a fashion show around model Dominique Goossens. Carl De Moncharline is present in the room, shortly before gradually succeeding him from 1991. The document follows the backstage of the event: make-up, accessories and the demands of the modelling profession. — Marie Claire Fashion Show at the Mirano Continental, 1989

Etienne Russo, from the Mirano to Villa Eugénie

Étienne Russo. Photograph from ICON, spring/summer 2025.

One name cannot be left unspoken at the end of this chapter: Etienne Russo. Artistic director of the Mirano before Carl De Moncharline, who would gradually succeed him from 1991, he directed the fashion shows and ran the Smirnoff Fashion Award, whose finals were held in the former cinema on the chaussée de Louvain. For him, fashion was never one activity among many: it was his natural ground, and the club offered it to him as a laboratory.

It was alongside Aldo Gigli that Etienne Russo saw his first grandiose sets come to life. One evening remains emblematic: “The Abysses”, on 25 June 1992, an underwater set designed by Aldo that took over the club, with the Great Whale turned into a bar. The rediscovered poster, signed by Patrick Gennaro Avella and not by Aldo Gigli, is now the precious visual record of this universe, of which no photograph of the set appears to have survived. Years later, watching the scenography of a great Villa Eugénie fashion show, the seabed unfolding there raises a smile: the dream had already happened, one night, at the Mirano.

When Etienne Russo left the Mirano to fly on his own, the career that followed became unique in the world: Villa Eugénie, the first Dries Van Noten show in Paris in 1991, then hundreds of productions for Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Dior Homme, Moncler and so many others. But something was born here, in this place where Aldo Gigli knew how to turn a drawing sheet into party architecture: it is no exaggeration to say that the Mirano allowed his first dreams to hatch.

Carl De Moncharline also inherited from Etienne Russo a standard that never left him: a perfectionism pushed beyond perfection, a care for detail down to the invisible. It is a line Carl tried to hold throughout his career, in another register, large-scale public events, but with the same conviction: the care given to what the audience will never notice is precisely what gives an evening its greatness.

“The Abysses”, Mirano Continental, 25 June 1992. Poster by Patrick Gennaro Avella for the evening featuring an underwater set designed by Aldo Gigli, with the Great Whale transformed into a bar.

The whale bar from The Abysses set, now installed at KM5 in Ibiza. The centrepiece of the set designed by Aldo Gigli for the 25 June 1992 evening thus continued its journey beyond the Mirano Continental.

Etienne Russo, the seabed turned grand spectacle

The scenography of a Philipp Plein fashion show signed by Etienne Russo and Villa Eugénie: an underwater world, a nod to the evening he had imagined with Aldo Gigli at the Mirano, where the Great Whale served as a bar.Video: Carl De Moncharline's personal archives.

Madame Figaro, 2015: "Etienne Russo, le metteur en rêve", portrait by Elisabeth Clauss (photos Mathieu Ridelle), spread on pages 210-211.

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