Stib embraces Belgian fashion: it's Fashion Days

STIB embraces Belgian fashion: it's Fashion Days Here is a rare experience that STIB passengers were able to enjoy: an hour-long fashion show running through the Brussels underground network. Ophélie Morelli is coordinating the whole thing with the aim of making noise worldwide. "While looking for something a bit special to set up for the third edition of the Brussels Fashion Days," she says, "we realised that only two countries had already organised a fashion show in the metro, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and in Berlin, Germany." Brussels is now part of that very exclusive club. "You don't really see the link between fashion and the metro, but I find it quite original because it steps outside the usual lines," says Céline Verleyen, a young designer presenting travellers with a dress featuring patterns inspired by martial arts. "Someone said, a bit ironically, that fashion starts on the catwalks and ends in the metro," smiles Ophélie Morelli, "but it's true. It's important for us to take possession of urban space and show people that things are happening and that Brussels is creative. Going into the city, into the urban fabric rather than into halls with classic fashion shows, means reaching a larger number of unexpected or unhoped-for spectators." STIB, for its part, happily played along. Guy Sablon, its spokesperson, "likes to give travellers surprises, to give them something extra on their journey. It was something playful, something friendly. We hope our travellers enjoy it." Brussels Fashion Days, from 17 to 19 October Ten designers from the 2014 graduating class of Belgium's ten fashion schools will present their creations during a fashion show. It will also be an opportunity to discover new silhouettes wearing these creations. There will be four shows presented under the supervision and coordination of Guillaume Joveneau. Fashion photographers will also be present for an exhibition. A new feature this year: a large fashion pop-up store accessible throughout the three days. Julien Boseret is the coordinator of the Brussels Fashion Days and, for him, "it's really a panorama of fashion in Belgium. We really bring together the designers, the photographers, the models, the agencies. All of this small world, we gather it in a magnificent 1,000-square-metre space, The Egg. And, for three days, we invite the public to come and meet them, to talk with them, to share, to make their creations their own and truly create a wonderful encounter between the public and these people who make Belgian fashion today. Even though every day they put on trousers, jumpers, clothes, people are not always aware of where it is made, how it is created, what the process is to finally end up in the shop. So it's important to go to the source and understand that this is a sector that supports the livelihoods of a great many people in Belgium."