Antwerp may not be for everyone – few things are – but how can this Northernmost of Southern European cities possibly fail to inspire, with its affordable authenticity, eclectic architecture, gastronomy, and fashion? Creative disorder rules in this Belgian capital of cool, and the place feels decidedly easy going. It is a younger, quirkier, artsier, cleaner, and in some ways more happening version of Brussels. It has a distinct identity, a relaxed but chic street style, and is full of bespoke shops dispensing local designer products, from gourmet chocolates and frites to fashion forward vintage stuff and original vinyl. Brings you back to Nolita, East Village, or Williamsburg. Funky clothing/books/coffee/cycling stores, and useless, design conscious places with gadgets and character are everywhere – interiors and art galleries in Zuid, vintage and antiques in Sint-Andries, shopping for the sake of shopping in the part of the fashion district known as the Wilder Zee – the city excels at effortlessly blending serious tradition with the cool worthy of colorful lower Manhattan neighborhoods. And there is much more to it than Central Station, Meir, diamonds, and Rubens.
And yet there is no triumph of style over substance here – this Rome of the North is deeply historic and Old World in the best sense of this word. Antwerp is a repository of classical works of art where top Old Masters are represented as well as anywhere, perhaps because an unusual number of them actually had their workshops here. Works of art produced locally display meticulous attention to detail beyond compare, and are more complete and less sketchy than in most places N of the Alps. This ingenuity is still at every step, but you need to connect the dots on your own, Antwerp does not do the best job marketing itself to a visitor.
Somewhat less famous is Antwerp’s very own – and thriving – avant-garde fashion design school. Centered around the legacy of Antwerp Six, a collective of six of its most influential designers founded in the 1980’s, the scene has the air cover of MoMu, the fashion museum on Nationalestraat, in the midst of its upscale shopping area, and of a top ranked and highly competitive fashion program at its 350 yr old Royal Academy of Fine Arts – one of the world’s oldest, it counts Vincent Van Gogh, the Art Nouveau architectural genius Henry Van de Velde, and Victorian classical painter active in Belgium and England Lawrence Alma-Tadema among its alumni. Apparently, fashion is taught here as a form of art, relatively unspoiled by commercial imperatives, rather than as a business or a commodity – consider it yet another outlet for the city’s creativity in visual arts. The original six were followed by at least a generation of talented graduates of the Academy – increasingly staying and setting up shop in Antwerp rather than trying their luck in larger cities elsewhere – broadly anonymous but well-known in the industry and catching on among those who want to know. Today, over 20,000 people work in Antwerp’s fashion industry.
Local brands, and original store fronts are off Meir not on it, further to the South, whether it is clothing, accessories, gadgets, books, coffee – the city has not escaped the coffeehouse craze – or chocolates. Antwerp’s local retail scene looks cool and confident and doesn’t appear threatened, or is in denial, whatever the case, store fronts and thematic boutiques add to the experience. Schuttershofstraat running parallel to Meir two blocks to the South is lined with premium brands and smart concept stores. Together with nearby Arenbergstraat and Komedieplaats next to Bourla Schouwburg – a beautifully restored neoclassical Royal French theater with impressive interior reminiscent of Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and displaying original stage machinery from the 1830’s – it defines Antwerp’s luxury fashion district. Geographically, it is roughly centered on the V shaped intersection of Nationalestraat and Drukkerijstraat – MoMu, the fashion museum and home to the Flanders Fashion Institute, which exists to promote entrepreneurial creativity in design and fashion, sandwiched between them. If boutique street scene and window shopping are your thing, nearby Wilder Zee pedestrian zone centered on an intersection of five streets not far from Meirburg where Meir and Schoenmarkt meet – Korte Gasthuisstraat, Wiegstraat, Groendaalstraat, Schrijnwerkstraat, with Lombardenvest, a two block long bridge back to the fashion district – rewards with a taste of Antwerp’s vibrant window shopping culture, rich street food, and pretty people, if you are into people watching. And for a taste of local fashion, Antwerp’s unique vintage and second hand shops on Kammenstraat and Kloosterstraat make for a separate and perhaps more memorable experience.
Outdoor cafe terraces here display animated personality and seem unburdened by social tension, as if laid out to serve a different social purpose, less for passive people watching and more for engaging with a person, or table, next to you than in nearby Amsterdam or Paris. I recall the terraces of Ghent and Leuven having their own personalities too but my pulse check of the Antwerp scene is more recent. Unusually high density of these establishments is one reason. Around the medieval core and its busy pedestrian zone, notorious for its continuous flow of outdoor tables, the end of one venue and the start of another are not always easy to discern – as if it shouldn’t really matter, as if the they were meant to be interchangeable, by design. Terraces here appear devoid any sense of responsibility to the intricate architecture – of Standshuis, the Cathedral of Our Lady or the nearby guild houses – their bon-vivant occupants shamelessly steal the show, at least in close view, often claiming the first moments of attention even from the most inquisitive out-of-towner. Even in the anti-historic and hipster central Sint-Andries, along Kloosterstraat, which exists entire for the pleasure of idling and vintage window shopping, cafe terraces are more respectful or – and more deferential to – their host buildings taking a clear back seat to the fronts of neighboring boutiques.
Cafe terraces of the fashion district appear less theatrically staged than in the old town, more easy going, more Netherlands. Those of the Renaissance cafe in the ModeMuseum building on the rounded corner where Nationalestraat and Drukkerijstraat meet or the casual outdoor tables of Mint and Bistro Theo on I Jzerenwaag square across the street – are more Amsterdam than anything else. Outdoor tables in the neighboring theater district as far out as Leopoldsplaats are generic Belgian for lack of a better word.
An occasional old school Parisian terrace does not look out of place in this city – like the famous Bourla behind its namesake theater on Graanmarkt or tiny Cafe Corso on Vrijdagmarkt facing the stately facade of the Plantin-Moretus Museum. Only here it tends to spill unceremoniously from just a couple of tables on the sidewalk right in front of the cafe window to a larger satellite terrace on a pedestrian island in the middle of a public square it shares with other establishments, the island terrace recognized by the same furniture and color scheme as the sidewalk one. A luxury busier capital cities can’t afford, this set up is a signature of Antwerp’s outdoor scene. Few Antwerp terraces are more Parisian than that of Cafe des Arts on Teniersplaats facing the near identical corner towers forming the entrance to the imposing Leystraat. And for a more chic and pan-European outdoor terrace – Paris or Vienna style, either, both, not sure – but hidden from view, check out Cafe Imperial in the courtyard of the Palais Op Meir further down the boulevard towards the old center.
