ModeMuseum Antwerpen

Corner of the ModeNatie which houses MoMu

Knitwear exhibition ONTRAFEL. Tricot in de Mode at the Fashion Museum (ModeMuseum, MOMU) in. The central design is a dress by Walter Van Beirendonck, inspired by the colourful clothing of the Hui'an women of Quanzhou, China. The flanking designs are by the German-born fashion designer Bernhard Wilhelm. On the left a jersey sweater with elbows like the heels of a sock, and a skirt with alternating strips of knitted wool and loose threads. On the right the Beefeater wool jacket and Superflyskirt jersey dress.

Dress from the Study Collection

MoMu (Mode Museum) is a fashion museum located in Antwerp, Belgium. Founded on 21 September 2002, the museum collects, conserves, studies and exhibits objects related to textiles and fashion creations. The museum pays particular attention to the creations of Belgian contemporary fashion designers such as the Antwerp-based fashion designers (Martin Margiela, Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Van Saene, A.F. Vandevorst, etc.) who became famous from the 1980s and 1990s. The museum's first director was Linda Loppa who was also the founder and the director of the Fashion school of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. The current director and chief curator is Kaat Debo. The museum is under the administration of Antwerp province.

The regular exhibitions in the museum adopt scenography which aims to immerse the visitor in the world of the designer or the theme. Visitors are "immersed in the world of the designer or the theme", allowing for a unique experience with every exhibition.

History of the collection

The museum was founded on 21 September 2002, with at its core the historical collection of Western European costumes and textiles of the former provincial Costume and Textile Museum Vrieselhof (Provinciale Kostuum- en Textielmuseum) based in Oelegem. In 2011, the historical collection was enlarged with more than 2,000 objects from the 18th, 19th, and first half of the 20th century from the private collection of Ms. Jacoba de Jonge. The current collection of more than 38,000 objects comprises clothing, accessories, and textiles, as well as tools, machines for textile production, patterns and fashion show invitations.

Exhibitions

Since its opening, MoMu has organised a continuous programme of exhibitions. Centred around specific themes or designers, these exhibitions create a narrative of the cultural and historical significance of fashion. To achieve this, a designer's sources of inspiration, works from other disciplines, and many other forms of information are displayed alongside articles of clothing. MoMu works closely with designers and their teams to develop their exhibition concepts. MoMu's exhibitions have also travelled to Paris, Stockholm, London, Tokyo, Munich, Istanbul, Enschede and Melbourne.

After an extensive three-year renovation ending in September 2021, MoMu opened two new exhibition spaces; one to house a part of its permanent collection, and another temporary exhibition space.

Overview of past and present exhibitions.

In addition to the Permanent Collection display, which permanently rotates, MoMu hosts thematic temporary exhibitions, which can be seen in the following table, as well as on MoMu's online exhibition archive.

Exhibition	Start Date	End Date
Backstage: Selection I	21/09/2002	04/04/2003
Patterns	24/04/2003	10/08/2003
GenovanversaeviceversA	09/09/2003	28/03/2004
Goddess	08/05/2004	22/08/2004
Malign Muses	18/09/2004	30/01/2005
Beyond Desire	25/02/2005	18/08/2005
Katharina Prospekt: The Russians by A.F. Vandevorst	09/09/2005	05/02/2006
Yohji Yamamoto Dream Shop	07/03/2006	13/08/2006
The MoMu Collection: Selection II	08/09/2006	17/06/2007
6+ Antwerp Fashion	25/01/2007	23/06/2007
Bernhard Willhelm: Het Totaal Rappel	13/07/2007	10/02/2008
Moi, VERONIQUE BRANQUINHO TOuTe Nue	12/03/2008	17/08/2008
Maison Martin Margiela '20' The Exhibition	12/09/2008	08/02/2009
Paper Fashion!	06/03/2009	16/08/2009
Delvaux: 180 Years of Belgian Luxury	17/09/2009	21/02/2010
Black: Masters of Black in Fashion & Costume	17/09/2009	21/02/2010
Stephen Jones & The Accent of Fashion	08/09/2010	13/02/2011
Unravel: Knitwear in Fashion	16/03/2011	14/08/2011
Walter Van Beirendonck: Dream The World Awake	14/09/2011	19/02/2012
Living Fashion: Women's Daily Wear 1750–1950 from the Jacoba de Jonge Collection.	21/03/2012	12/08/2012
Madame Grès: Sculptural Fashion	12/09/2012	10/02/2013
Silks & Prints from the Abraham Archive: Couture in Colour	13/03/2013	11/08/2013
Happy Birthday Dear Academie!	08/09/2013	13/02/2014
Birds of Paradise: Plumes & Feathers in Fashion	20/03/2014	24/08/2014
MoMu Now: Contemporary Fashion from the MoMu Collection	25/09/2014	04/01/2015
Dries Van Noten: Inspirations	12/02/2015	19/07/2015
Footprint: The Tracks of Shoes in Fashion	03/09/2015	14/02/2016
Game Changers: Reinventing the 20th Century Silhouette	18/03/2016	14/08/2016
Rik Wouters & The Private Utopia	17/09/2016	26/02/2017
Margiela, The Hermès Years	31/03/2017	27/08/2017
Olivier Theyskens - She Walks in Beauty	12/10/2017	15/04/2018
Soft? Tactile Dialogues	28/09/2018	24/02/2019
Textile as Resistance: Billboards in the city	31/08/2020	21/09/2020
*2021 RE-OPENING*
E/MOTION. Fashion in Transition	04/09/2021	23/01/2022
P.LACE.S - Looking through Antwerp Lace	25/09/2021	09/01/2022
MIRROR MIRROR - Fashion & the Psyche	08/10/2022	05/02/2023
Exploding Fashion: From 2D to 3D to 3D Animation	08/10/2022	05/02/2023
Geometrically Wired. IO Van Oostveldt: Between Clothing and Art	25/02/2023	30/07/2023
Man Ray and Fashion	22/04/2023	13/08/2023
ECHO. Wrapped in Memory	14/10/2023	25/02/2024
Baloji Augurism.	21/10/2023	16/06/2024
WILLY VANDERPERRE prints, films, a rave and more...	27/04/2024	04/08/2024
MoMu x Fashion Department	29/06/2024	10/11/2024
Masquerade, Make-up & Ensor	28/09/2024	02/02/2025
JAN-JAN VAN ESSCHE - KHAYAL	17/12/2024	15/06/2025
Fashion & Interiors. A Gendered Affair.	29/03/2025	03/08/2025
RESOLUCIÓN: On lifetime decisions in Spanish cinema	12/07/2025	23/11/2025
GIRLS. On Boredom, Rebellion and Being In-Between	27/09/2025	01/02/2026
Embroidering Palestine	13/12/2025	07/06/2026
The Antwerp Six	20/03/2026	17/01/2027