BRANKOPOPOVICBLOG: Axelle Red - Fashion Victim at Fashion Museum Hasselt

It has been a while since the fantastic opening but here it is finally, my report. It was one of the best openings in a while, it seemed like the whole Belgian fashion scene was there.

Axelle Red is a successful singer-song writer, humanist and a style icon with a giant wardrobe. A wardrobe that, as it turns out, in a museum context turns into an art collection.

Her wardrobe turned out to be so special that Kenneth Ramaekers, director of MMH, the Fashion Museum Hasselt got the idea to ask her as a guest curator for an exhibition in the framework of a series of 'not professional curatorship by local heroes'.
Such as "Ultra Mega Lore' in 2010, an exhibition curated by the originating from Hasselt top model Hanelore Knuts.

Axelle also got carte blanche to tell her story. In addition to fashion she therefore also shows photography, video and art. With this expo she breaks a lance for Belgian artists, as she says.

27 years ago when Axelle Red (born Fabienne Demal in Hasselt in 1968) began to save money to buy unique clothing she didn't thought that today she would own a huge and very relevant wardrobe.
If you see the amount of clothing that she owns you think indeed 'a fashion victim', but each piece has its own story. For Axelle the clothes are more than just something you can wear. For her clothing are creative assets with which she expresses the spirit of various fases in her life. The clothing reflects on many friendships that she has kept thanks to her career, such as the special relationship with designer Véronique Leroy.

designer Véronique Leroy at the opening

Thank God her passion so deeply rooted that she has almost kept everything.
She is in possession of very special items of by Martin Margiela's early career and Helmut Lang approaches her to borrow pieces for his exhibition in New York. And Axelle could have never guessed that Raf Simons (rooted from Belgian Limburg) would mount one of the highest fashion thrones, the creative direction of the Dior.
In her wardrobe you will find pieces from Haider Ackermann, A.F. vandervorst, Elvis Pompilio, Bruno Pieters, Olivier Theyskens and Christiaan Wijnands. But above all you can find pieces from the legendary 'Antwerp Six' designers like Ann Demeulemeester and Dries van Noten. Axelle's stinging career kicked off alongside with the rise of the 'Antwerp Six'.

Véronique Leroy

In any case Axelle Red's passion for fashion and her loyalty to friendships in the arts has for sure contributed to the international fame of the Belgian designers.

Over the years, fashion has enormously emancipated and increased in its cultural value. Museums organize groundbreaking fashion exhibitions, fashion movies replaced catwalk presentations and the
'fashion victims' are the art collectors of the future.

Whether you love Axelle's music or not, this exhibition provides insight into the contemporary history of the Belgian fashion and is an absolute must.

The exhibition ' Axelle Red – Fashion Victim ' can still be seen until 2 June.

http://www.modemuseumhasselt.be/

Impressions from the opening