74 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 15 2008
F A S H I O N
emy, alongwith thenurturingnatureof this
intimate fashioncentric city, keep Antwerp
on the cutting edge. TimVan Steenbergen,
a driven yet sweet designer who graduated
at the topofhis classand internedwithVan
Noten andOlivier Theyskens, is one of the
city’s greatest recent success stories.
ON A NONdeScripT blOck just
outside the city center, Van Steenbergen’s
design studio is almost surprisingly grim
and unimpressive— quite unlike his beau-
tiful clothes. An old sewing factory with
brady bunch–style fake-wood paneling on
thewalls, fluorescent lights, and card tables
everywhere belies his Flemish practicality.
He focuseson theclothes, not the trappings
around the clothes. designers of his caliber
inNewYorkorpariswould spend (possibly
waste)timeandmoneyontheappearanceof
their studio, but notVanSteenbergen. Take
just one glance at the stunningly dressed
mannequins and the racks of handmade
clothes, and it’s obvious what he spends all
his timeon.
“Nowadays, you have to decide where
you want to be: making cheaper clothes
for themasses ormaking something really
exclusive and special. because there’sno in-
between anymore,” Van Steenbergen says.
Theworkhehasput intohisnew collection
is evidence enough that his pieces are not
TimVanSteenbergen in hisworkshop
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Cenegenics American Airlines 08-11-08 A.pdf 8/11/2008 3:32:36 PM
