On Monday 23 September 2013 Europeana Fashion, in collaboration with volunteers from Wikipedia, is organising a fashion edit-a-thon in the library of MoMu – ModeMuseum Province of Antwerp

For this fashion edit-a-thon, Europeana Fashion invites people with fashion knowledge to edit new and existing articles about fashion on Wikipedia. Fashion bloggers, curators, students and lovers of fashion with or without Wikipedia experience are welcome to share their knowledge and to learn how the largest encyclopaedia in the world works.

The goal of this edit-a-thon is to improve and make more visible fashion information on Wikipedia. This edit-a-thon will specifically take place around the theme Belgian fashion. Previously, Europeana Fashion organised fashion edit-a-thons at Nordiska Museet in Stockholm and at Centraal Museum in Utrecht.

Participating in the edit-a-thon is free, but since we can host only a limited number of participants, we would like to ask you to sign up before 16 September via https://wikifashion-be.eventbrite.com/.

What is an edit-a-thon?
An edit-a-thon is an event during which people with an enthusiasm and an expertise in a certain subject gather to edit and add information on that subject on Wikipedia.

What do I need to bring?
Bring your own laptop to add or edit articles on Wikipedia. WiFi will be available as well as information resources (books, magazines, etc.) from the MoMu library. Lunch and snacks will be provided. Additionally, all participants will receive a guided tour through the exhibition Happy Birthday Dear Academie! – 50 Years Antwerp Fashion Department.

Check our upcoming expo at Cultuurmarkt 2013 today! MoMu shares a booth together with FoMu and the Diamond Museum at the Meir until 6PM today!

From 8 September 2013 till 16 February 2014 MoMu will present the exhibition ’50 Years Antwerp Fashion Department’. The exhibition is one of the many projects of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp celebrating its 350th anniversary.

The exhibition will highlight various aspects of Antwerp fashion education during the first fifty years of its existence: the department’s specific curriculum and its education and evaluation methods, the importance of graphic design in fashion, the various generations of students and their careers, the friendship and emergence of the ‘Antwerp Six’ (Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Walter Van Beirendonck, Marina Yee, Dirk Bikkembergs) and Martin Margiela, and the graduation projects of some of the most noteworthly alumni.

This exhibition paints a picture of the programme as an artistic cocoon. Students are encouraged to achieve their utmost potential and expand their skills as well as developing an artistic signature on which they can build their future career.

The exhibition illustrates how diverse the careers of the Academy’s alumni are and how this programme has left a mark on the international fashion world.

More info: www.happybirthdaydearacademie.be

It is no secret that our MoMu+Friends are real fashion lovers! Check out this picture we received from New York from our Dutch MoMu+Friends Annette and Emile.
Partly due to their work they travel the world cities and local fashion exhibitions are always on their to-do list!
Annette and Emile posed in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York to visit the PUNK: Chaos to Couture exhibition: “Fabulous exhibition, with a great scenography. It shows that fashion is timeless, pieces from the seventies are still relevant!”

Thank you Annette and Emile and we love that you travel the world in your MoMu bag!

Still looking for the perfect gift for Mother’s Day in Antwerp tomorrow? Why not a MoMu+Friends membership, a fashionable gift that lasts all year long!
P.S.: It includes all year long free entrance to the exhibitions for your mother and one guest, so you can enjoy it too!

Last April, Europeana Fashion hosted an international conference in April, attracting speakers from various fields within the fashion industry, from museums and universities to commercial enterprises and media. They came together to discuss the role of fashion archives, fashion education and fashion in new media. All the lectures can now be viewed and enjoyed online!

Kaat Debo, director of the MoMu, was one of the conference’s lectures. She talked about how MoMu is setting up innovative strategies to collect materials in a fashion world that is becoming increasingly digital and how to engage a growing virtual audience. Linda Loppa, former director of MoMu and now director at the Florentine fashion school Polimoda, presented a manifesto calling for a change in how we see fashion so fashion education can produce a creative community that benefits society as a whole.

You can also watch other lectures on the Europeana website by speakers from Museum at FIT, the Emilio Pucci Archive Foundation, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Pitti Immagine, Stockholm University, University of Venice, University of Milan, Lipperheide Costume Library , SHOWstudio, Vestoj and Europeana.

Here are some snapshots of the finished drawing which was coloured by the more then 3.000 people we welcomed last Saturday for Museum Night! Thank you Brecht! And thanks to everyone that left their mark on the drawing!

For Museum Night this Saturday we asked Belgian illustrator Brecht Vandenbroucke to make blank drawing which can be coloured by our visitors.

The 6 meter drawing has been set up in our hall by Asap and is inspired by our current Silks & Prints exhibition.
You can recognize our MoMu building, several motifs and patterns from the fabric rolls in the exhibition and figures resembling the models from the fashion plates from the Abraham Archive that feature in the exhibition.

Detail from the illustration by Brecht Vandenbroucke at the MoMu hall, 2013

The Royal Palace in Brussels is on of the most beautiful official buildings in our capital. Our staff at the Collection Department had the honour and privilege of setting up the outfits worn by the Belgian Royal family at their official crowning July 21st. The installation with the outfits are part of the summer exhibition at the Royal Palace.

The installation is on view from today until September 8th at the Royal Palace (free entrance) next to several other exhibitions on science and culture!

On August 3rd, museum lovers can once again prowl around Antwerp’s museums during Antwerp Museum Night.

They will present their permanent collections and exhibitions but there are also a lot of fun extras including storytelling, a Human Jukebox, film, music, song and dance, mini concerts and performances.

MoMu is taking part in this year’s Museum Night with the exhibition ‘Silks & Prints from the Abraham Archive – Couture in Colour’, a lively summer bar.
We also invited Antwerp-based illustrator Brecht Vandenbroucke, who works freelance for ao NY Times, De Standaard and De Morgen, and known for his bright, bold, humorous work. Inspired by our Silks & Prints exhibition he made a blank illustration which will hang life-size in the MoMu-hallway and which can be coloured by our visitors during Museum Night!

Museumnacht / Museum Night – Saturday, August 3rd 2013 – 7PM until 1AM at MoMu, Nationalestraat 28, 2000 Antwerp.

A useful tip: book your ticket beforehand. It is not only cheaper but you will also be able to enter the museum without ‘checking in’ on the evening itself.
Tickets: €8, Presale €7 (from Info Cultuur, Grote Markt 13, 2000 Antwerp and museumnacht.be)
A wristband gives you access to the 16 locations and to the shuttle busses which will take you from one museum to the next.

During the summer holidays the MoMu library will only be open by appointment during July and August.
Please contact us by mail: info@momu.be or by phone: +32 3 470 27 79 and we will gladly welcome you for your research.

MoMu is happy to announce the opening of the ‘Walter Van Beirendonck – Dream the World Awake’ expo today at RMIT Design Hub in Melbourne!

The exhibition was conceived and created by MoMu where it was first presented in September 2011. It is presented for the first time outside Europe int he iconic RMIT Design Hub building, designed by architect Sean Godsell, and will be the highlight of its inaugural events program.

RMIT’s Associate Professor Robyn Healy, School of Fashion and Textiles, said this high-profile design exhibition is significant for the University, for Melbourne and for Australia.

“As an innovative design exhibition, Walter Van Beirendonck Dream the World Awake highlights the potential of cross-disciplinary collaboration, a key aspect of the Design Hub’s philosophy.”

“It provides remarkable opportunities for RMIT’s students and research community, as well as for everyone interested in design to get up close to Van Beirendonck’s work, adventure inside his mind, experience his working processes and engage and reflect upon his ideas,” Ms Healy said.

An extensive program of public and academic events will be presented in association with the exhibition, including design studios, master classes, forums, public lecture series and fashion events. Some of these events will involve Walter Van Beirendonck and members of his team who are expected to travel to Australia for the project’s unveiling.

Walter Van Beirendonck – Dream the World Awake will be presented free-of-charge at the RMIT University Design Hub from 17 July until 5 October 2013.