Fashion designer Colette van Landuyt (1945) is known for her abstract, timeless style. What makes her designs so revolutionary?
Van Landuyt is from Belgium, but moved to Amsterdam in the 1970s, where she encountered a fashion scene making bold statements throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Van Landuyt consciously chooses her own path. Her clothing eschews shoulder pads and glamour, focusing instead on the body, fit and movement.
She creates clothing as though crafting an experience, using pure forms and understated refinement: an early expression of what we now call minimal luxury.
Top and skirt from a 1985 ensemble
The complete ensemble, including jacket
Van Landuyt often chose unusual locations for fashion shows. In 1986, she staged a show in the chapel of the Centraal Museum. There was no traditional catwalk; instead, ballet dancers brought the clothes to life through movement.
Like Van Landuyt, Belgian designers Martin Margiela and Ann Demeulemeester have an eye for craftsmanship. Demeulemeester, for instance, also often focuses on the body and silhouette.
Yet Van Landuyt’s designs remain the most abstract: her clothing speaks purely through form.
Compare Margiela with Van Landuyt
Compare Van Landuyt with Demeulemeester
Van Landuyt’s designs drape fluidly around the body and move gently with it. Her fashion is not about standing out, but about feeling and movement.
Van Landuyt does not want her clothing to command all the attention: her designs allow the wearer's personality to shine through rather than overshadowing it. The clothing follows the body and the wearer, not the other way around.
“I design with a sense of the body's continuity, for the woman whose personality is stronger than her body. ”
