FEMALE LEADS: Meryll Rogge was named the designer of the year at the 2024 Belgian Fashion Awards on Thursday in Brussels.
“Meryll has made it onto the international scene while remaining herself. She creates gender-fluid ready-to-wear, always listening to today’s world,” said the jury, led by trend forecaster, editor and curator Lidewij Edelkoort and Philip Fimmano, trend analyst and consultant.
Ghent-born Rogge is the first woman to receive the distinction, awarded in previous years to Anthony Vaccarello, Glenn Martens, who won in 2022 and 2018, Nicolas Di Felice, Christian Wijnants and Raf Simons.
A 2008 graduate of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts who dreamed of being an illustrator as a child, she swapped paint for textile swatches when moving to New York.
After working her way up to lead designer at Marc Jacobs over seven years, she was back in Antwerp working for Dries van Noten as head of women’s design in 2014 before going solo in 2020. The following year, she was named emerging designer of the year at the Belgian Fashion Awards.
Several of Rogge’s pieces have been acquired recently by the MoMu Antwerp museum and Brussels’ Fashion & Lace Museum.
Women took the lion’s share of awards this year.
Taking home the jury prize was veteran designer Marina Yee, who was part of the group of Royal Academy graduates known as the Antwerp Six alongside Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene and Dirk Bikkembergs.
Having relaunched her eponymous label in 2022, she counts over 40 stockists worldwide including Dover Street Market New York and its counterpart in Los Angeles, Ssense and SKP in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Marie Adam-Leenaerdt was named emerging talent of the year. The La Cambre graduate launched her brand in 2023 and has been showing on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar since the spring 2024 season. This year, she was also nominated for the ANDAM Prize and the LVMH Prize for Young Designers.
The second edition of the BFA accessories prize went to Paris-based Stéphanie D’heygere, who won the jury prize last year.
In addition to her six-year-old eponymous label, where she unfurls her idea that any object can become an accessory, the Maison Margiela and Dior alumna has created jewelry for Jean Paul Gaultier, Jil Sander and Martens for both his Y/Project and Diesel collections. She’s also collaborated with brands from Longchamp and Gentlemonster to Medea and Vaquera.
Other winners of the year are textile designer Daniel Henry, named professional of the year; sustainable fashion workshop RE Antwerp, founded by designer Tim Van Steenbergen and journalist Ruth Goossens, as changemaker of the year, and La Cambre’s Célestin Verheyden as most promising graduate. Family-owned label Four Roses was named brand of the year.
The jury led by Edelkoort and Fimmano included 2023 accessories award winner Sarah Levy; Elisa De Wyngaert, curator of the MoMu Antwerp museum; Eve Demoen, curator of Modemuseum Hasselt; Nicolas Lor, curator of contemporary fashion at the Fashion & Lace Museum; Lena-Sophie Röper, general manager designer and luxury at Zalando; Raïssa Verhaeghe, founder and chief executive officer of fashion consultancy Raver; and Serge Carreira, head of the emerging brands initiative at the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, as well as journalists and fashion editors.
The awards have been organized since 2017 by Flanders DC, a nonprofit organization launched by the Flemish government to promote the design and fashion sector; the MAD Brussels fashion and design platform; Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode, which supports the internationalization of labels based in Brussels and the French-speaking Wallonia region, and publications Weekend Knack and Le Vif Weekend.