Capital of Cool

When Belgian fashion first strutted onto the international catwalks in the early '80s, Antwerp took the credit—and rightly so. It was graduates of that city's fashion school—Dries van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Walder van Beirendonck, Dirk van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee, a.k.a. the Antwerp Six—who were forging a distinctive deconstructionist style, a world away from Belgium's moules-frites-and-cherry-beer reputation. But today it's Brussels—and its Quartier Dansaert—that's à la mode. At 74 Rue Antoine Dansaert is Stijl—the shop that began the revolution, tel: (32-2) 512 0313. Until 10 years ago, cheap rents and the store's not-so-cheap Flemish clothes were probably the only reason to linger in this neglected part of town that stretches from the Bourse down to the canal district. Today Stijl has made room on its racks for the froufrou frocks and Art Nouveau fabrics of Brussels designers Sofie D'Hoore and Cathy Pill, while the shops next door have been transformed into boutiques that sell the offbeat fashion of young designers, many of them graduates of the Brussels art school, La Cambre.

At No. 100 is Mademoiselle Jean, tel: (32-2) 513 5069, www.mademoisellejean.com, where, amid black padded walls studded with pink ribbons, designer Aurore Jean makes sexy, one-off 1950s-inspired pieces. Ribbons, bows and lingerie feature in her skirts, catsuits and baby-doll tops, and handmade corsets are her speciality.

Next door at Y-dress?, tel: (32-2) 502 6981, ydress.com, Swedish-bred Aleksandra Paszkowska pays homage to IKEA with her flat-pack Instant Princess and Emergency Wedding Dresses, which both come with pop-up crinolines in an easy-carry bag.

At No. 18 Rue des Chartreux, Shampoo & Conditioner, tel: (32-2) 511 0777, is the creative lab of young designers Aude de Wolf and Vanessa Vukicevic who draw their inspiration from contes noirs (dark tales). "Our style is somewhere between little girl and dangerous woman," says Russian-born Vukicevic.

Further along at No. 37 is Le Vestiaire, tel: (32-2) 474 601 490; le-vestiaire.com, a workshop and showroom for the quirky casual wear of Caroline Foulon, Valérie Berckmans and Daniel Henry; and Céline Collard, who uses irregular-cut necklines, funky buttons and ruched sleeves to create T shirts a cut above the ordinary.

And when the money is burnt and the plastic has melted, cool off with a cherry beer at De Walvis at 209 Rue Antoine Dansaert, tel: (32-2) 219 9532, the watering hole of the art and design set. Some things, thankfully, never change.