Influential Fashion Educators: Tony Delcampe, La Cambre Mode, Brussels

The Belgian educator has provided Paris with its most in-demand designers since 1999.

By Marta Represa. Photographs by Alfredo Piola

What if we told you Paris fashion is born in Brussels? In an unassuming building in the Ixelles district of the Belgian capital? That’s where the École nationale supérieure des arts visuels de La Cambre – the arts school founded by painter Henry van de Velde in 1926 – hosts its fashion department, a comparatively small program launched in 1986 and welcoming roughly 15 new BA students yearly.

Led by Tony Delcampe since 1999, himself an alumnus who graduated from the school in 1994, La Cambre Mode[s] has become famous for two things: being one of the few public fashion schools in Western Europe and providing the fashion capitals with designers such as Matthieu Blazy, Anthony Vaccarello, Olivier Theyskens, Nicolas Di Felice, Julien Dosséna, Marine Serre and newcomers like Marie Adam Leenaerdt and De Pino’s Gabriel Figueiredo. The teaching principle behind this generational talent? A no-nonsense, lo-tech, timeless approach to design and creation that prioritises technique, as evidenced by its graduate show, and a realistic view of the industry that encourages graduates to thrive within brand studios.

“The first three years, during BA, we establish the basis of a vocabulary,” Tony says. “Then, during MA, we start creating full new sentences, all the while using pared down equipment: sewing machines, cutting tables and Stockman tailor’s dummies.” Here, we speak to him about his teaching ethos, the way the school works day-to-day, and how the fashion industry has changed in the last two decades.

What was La Cambre Mode[s] like when you were a student yourself?

I did my studies from 1989 to 1994, and the fashion program had only been created three years earlier, so everything was yet to be done. There were less students than now, and creativity, personality and self-expression were king. It was a reflection of a pre-corporate fashion industry, where groups weren’t yet in control of everything and independent designers thrived. The word ‘product’ wasn’t ever used. Instead, we created collections, even without really knowing what a collection should be.

You started teaching there only four years after graduating, first in charge of the second-year students, then, a year later, as Head of the fashion program. Had things already changed in that short timespan?

A new era was being born during the late ‘90s. When I started teaching, I still had my brand with my partner, but I was already realising things were about to change. People were beginning to talk about the Gucci Group, Prada, and LVMH. Independent designers were vanishing, unless they had been established prior to us, like the Antwerp Six, and even some of them didn’t make it through. It was then that I saw I had to establish a solid pedagogic strategy, one that had, as a basis, a comprehensive understanding of garments. Every one of a wardrobe’s pieces are studied and explored both in a creative and in a technical way, from the first year onwards.

What does the school look for in a prospective student?

First of all, passion. By that I mean a very keen interest for fashion, as well as curiosity. Every year we get around 200 candidates between the ages of 16 and 23, all of which we interview in person, and most of them have a very fantasised idea of what the industry is like. They might say they love Jean Paul Gaultier, but when asked why, they can only talk about Le Mâle’s flask shape. Or they think working in fashion means exclusively drawing, drinking champagne and going to shows (granted, some creative directors do that minus the drawing, but still). So candidates who can go beyond that superficial understanding of design will do well with us. We also like knowing what their B and C school options are, because it shows how thoughtful their school-choosing process has been. Finally, students are required to speak French, the official language of the classes.