ANTWERP/BASEL/DUBLIN

Antwerpen

Dries Van Noten

I land in Brussels, my native city, where my brother, Philippe, is waiting for me. On the way to Antwerpen - where my sister-in-law, Greta, has opened a DVF shop - we reminisce about our childhood. Antwerpen is a beautiful city, a port, a diamond center, and a cultural city with a major fashion and design pedigree.

I set up camp at the Hotel De Witte Lelie, an old mansion transformed into an elegant boutique hotel with very few rooms, but wireless internet access!!! After a really bad lunch on the old city square (everything is closed on Monday), I walk the Nationalstrasse and visit all the designer's shops including Dries van Noten, Veronique Branquinho, Ann Demeulemeester and the multi brand Walter van Beirendonck where I discover some of the youngest designers like Bruno Pieters. All the shops are large, very stylish, and each one very much reflecting the DNA of each designer. You are very quickly made aware that even if Antwerp is a small city, it is a very important fashion capital.

Sarah, Diane and Philipe The Dinner Catherine and Greta

That night, we go to Axel and May Vervoordt , where they have opened their magnificent Kasteel van's-Gravenwezel to 120 of their most creative friends, designers, architects, directors and entrepreneurs. The dinner has been organized to welcome me to Antwerp. After sunset and cocktails in the old stables, now transformed into a fairy decor, we all go and sit at a huge long candlelit table and eat delicious seafood flown in the same day from La Coruna while opera music plays in the background. Sitting between Axel and Prince Laurent of Belgium, across from Dries and Ann Demeulemeester, I thank my hosts who make me feel so welcome in my native land. We go back to the castle for coffee and dessert, and sit by the fireplace in the library. The rooms are spacious, elegant and comfortable, the people are delightful, and no one wants to leave. Belgians know how to live!!!!

Diane and Bruno Peters DVF Store Street

The next morning I wear comfortable shoes (high heels not recommended on the cobble stones) and walk to the National Museum. Admiring the Bruegels, van Dyk and Rubens, I remember my childhood and my first exposure to the Flemish Masters. I go and visit Rubens' house and stare at his Adam and Eve that he painted when he was 19. Rubens had a happy and wealthy life- a rare breed for an artist.

Vice Mayors of Antwerpen DVF And Dries Prince Laurent and Maye Vervoordt

The next day is the official opening day of my shop... It has only been one year since Greta first introduced my brand in her shop in Brussels, but now with the decision of opening a DVF Antwerp, she has really created a buzz!!! The shop is wonderfully located on Steenhouwersvest, between the Moda Museum and Dries van Noten. It is small, but bright and happy, and customers are already filling the fitting rooms. Greta has called for a large pink tent on the street for the party and the press conference. The two vice mayors, Philippe Heylen and Ludo van Campenhout , are present, and officially welcome me and talk about the Red Star Line, the restoration project that started a year ago on my last visit. I do interviews all day, go to the hotel to change, and come back for the party. It is fun...the music (Deborah Harry) is loud, and the disco ball gives the party a 70s feel. Childhood friends, family, neighbors, designers, customers...lots of people are there to celebrate and wish me, the DVF shop and Greta very good luck. I even meet a man, Didier van Bruyssel, who claims I married him when we were 5 years old in kindergarten. Greta and Philippe seem happy...me too!!!

Walter's Store

Basel

Trade fairs are usually exciting and frightening, and the Basel Watch and Jewelry show is just that. 2,127 companies show their treasures, over 94,000 visitors come to look, buy and write about them. The industry is enormous.

H.Stern Stand Basel World Fair Bob Verheelst and Carlos Aires

I am excited to be there to introduce the fine jewelry line I designed with H.Stern. Their stand (well, looks more like a store than a stand) is beautiful and airy, and my jewelry has top billing in their windows and front counters. Until recently, the jewelry was only available in their H.Stern shops, but will now be on sale in the fine jewelry shops that carry H.Stern. For 48 hours, I will meet agents, clients and press from all over the world and give them a briefing...I explain the jewelry, the story behind it, why and how it was created...It can feel a bit repetitive, but it is always interesting to see and hear the reactions.

People are enthusiastic and impressed by the boldness of the jewels...I am glad!

I leave Basel without having seen the great Matisse show at the Museum, but I think I have sold a lot of jewelry!

Dublin

I have never been to Dublin, nor has my husband, so we are looking forward to our weekend in the Irish capital. We are staying at The Merrion hotel, an old-fashioned, elegant hotel created from four Georgian townhouses. After being reassured that the broadband speed works, we embark on the exploration of the city. It is Saturday morning, cold but sunny, and the streets are crowded. Lots of people are dressed in red and cheering for the Munster Rugby match that will take place that afternoon. With the map of the city in our hands, we walk through the exquisite St. Stephen's Green Park, take the famous commercial Grafton Street and enter Trinity College. After a must stop at the The Book of Kells and the incredible library, we cross the grounds and admire the tortured trunks of the Oregon Maples and a Henry Moore sculpture. We then reach the Liffey River banks and walk through the narrow streets of Temple Bar, the Soho of Dublin. The houses are painted in bright colors, music comes out of the pubs...it looks like the Dublin I imagined. We visit Clarence House, the hip hotel owned by Bono, and end up in a little restaurant by the organic market where I have a tasty smoked fish casserole. We continue to stroll all afternoon, cross the Liffey to the north part of town, get caught in the torrential rain, and head back to the hotel. A massage at the Spa and a swim in the pool later, I feel regenerated!!

Dublin Street Clarence Hotel Trinity College

My husband leaves the next day and my friend, Romio Shrestha, visits me from the country. Romio is an artist, a man of great spirituality, and a painter. He was born in Nepal, is of Tibetan origin, and has 4 beautiful daughters with his Irish wife, Sophie. Romio and I go and visit Lainey Keogh, the famous Irish designer. Lainey makes the most luxurious, colorful, precious sweaters in the world!! I have been collecting them for years, and it is with great excitement that I enter her studio. It is exactly the way I imagined...old building, high ceilings, lots of light, and yarns of all colors everywhere...I rummage through boxes with joy. After a cup of tea, and having bought half the studio, Lainey declares we will drive to the "mountains."

We drive in the direction of South West Dublin, up Glencree Valley and up to Wicklow Hills. Between the heather and the peet, everything is brown except for the gorse, the yellow flowers. I learn that soon the heather will turn lavender and the mountains will stay purple all summer. We stop the car over Luggala Estate and its lake. The estate belongs to a Guinness heir, The Honorable Gareth de Brun, known for his eccentricity and great elegance. The wind is very strong, and the clouds and rain come in and out creating many different rainbows in the horizon. After traveling down to Sally Gap, we arrive in the village of Roundwood. A tiny village with a great famous inn, Roundwood is considered the Hollywood of Ireland for its famous residents. At the Roundwood Inn, built in 1621, I have my very first Guinness with a plate of venison and red cabbage, and absolutely love it! By the fireplace, I look at the beautiful photos I had taken on my new digital camera, and to my horror, erase the WHOLE day!!

Roundwood Inn Dalton Philips Barry Egan

Driving back to Dublin, at almost 9 o'clock, the sun is slowly coming down. The days are much longer here...time seems to be longer too.

But of course I am not in Dublin just for sightseeing, and the next day is intense. Up at 6 am, I am all made up and coifed for an appearance on Ireland AM, followed by a conversation with radio star, Pat Kenny. Dalton Philips, the young President of Brown Thomas, the best store in Ireland, is waiting for me at the door. With pride, he shows me his store and the DVF spot where my clothes are sold. After a brief photo shoot and a seminar with all the salespeople, I have a very pleasant lunch/interview with Barry Egan, THE interviewer of Ireland, from the Sunday Independent. After a few more interviews, I go briefly to the hotel to take a hot bath, change and go back to the store where there is a big a cocktail party waiting for me. The music is great, the hors d'oeuvres delicious, and the women beautiful, most of them dressed in DVF. Dalton addresses the crowd, speaks of me with very flattering words, and introduces Helen Staele, an artist who gives me 2 small paintings as a token of friendship and inspiration. After all this enthusiasm and warmth, I leave Dublin with the desire to go back as soon as possible!!


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