The Dansaertstraat is welcoming a new designer brand this month, as Antwerp fashion house Dries Van Noten opens its very first branch in Brussels. The new store is entirely dedicated to accessories and make-up.
The news is posted on the window of number 89 in the downtown Dansaertstraat and has been confirmed by Dries Van Noten's international spokesperson. The shop will open on 25 March.
The property in question is the one that until January of this year housed designer shoe shop Hatshoe. ‘I was already selling Dries Van Noten shoes, so I also let them know I was packing in the business,’ says Lieve Buyse, Hatshoe's manager and the owner of the premises. ‘It is great for Brussels that they are interested in this location,’ she enthuses.
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Dries Van Noten is not going to sell shoes there, but handbags, accessories, perfumes and lipsticks. Paris already has such an accessories store on the Quai Malaquais in the sixth arrondissement. In Brussels, Van Noten has never had his own store; they only existed in Antwerp.
Recently, though, the creative management of the brand passed to Julian Klausner, a 33-year-old based in Brussels: he took over from founder Dries Van Noten at the end of last year.
It has been a while since a new luxury shop opened on the Dansaertstraat. In recent years, it’s mostly affordable chains such like Cos, Ace & Tate and Komono that settled there, or furniture stores like Bolia and Sofacompany.
By selling accessories and make-up, fashion houses worldwide are aiming at a younger audience.