There is a long history of art being presented along side fashion. These exhibitions have left one with the feeling that the art is being used to lend conceptual weight to the clothes. But the rigorous exhibitions mounted at Antwerp’s Fashion Museum makes it clear that fashion designers can be as conceptually strong as visual artists. Their current exhibition is an overview of fashion designer Veronique Branquinho. She graduated from Flanders Fashion Institute in 1995. Since 1998, she has shown her collections on the world’s fashion runways, but this is the first museum presentation of her creative output.

With this exhibition, Branquinho leads us on an expansive journey. Upon entering the exhibition, the sound of your shoes is amplified, by the gravel on the floor of the darkened forest room where her shoe collections come to light hanging from the trees. Past a moving video installation, the viewer is lead through an empty chamber that functions as a Bruce Nauman Absorbing Chamber, circa 1983. Another room is outfitted with a jukebox playing cool club music. It’s like a Jeff Koons icon to American pop culture. Clearly, Branquinho knows her art history. Dark evening wear is presented, revealing her passion for combining different materials that layer and drape to accentuate the female form. The procession here leads from dark, to the darker, and then there is light.

For this trip, Branquinho provides an overcoat for the discerning man, along with a Porsche outfitted in matching tweed, both inside and out. Presented along with a video of a car racing through the open desert, we’re finally ready to go. The desert provides the metaphor of endless openness as we head forward into our unknown future. At least we can be well dressed for the surprises that await us. Finally, bursting into the light, with the stunning beauty that a clear vision can provide. Visual artists take note; creative thought will lead us, as we head into the excitement of the unknown.

Veronique Branquinho at Modemuseum Provincie Antwerpen, through August 17th.

There have been many recent exhibitions exploring the relationships between art and fashion, but the current exhibition at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen surveys the exhibition through a previously unexplored angle. “Vreemde Dingen” or translated to English, “Strange Things” looks at the influence of Surrealism on art, design, fashion, film and architecture. Curated by the Antwerp based fashion designers, Walter van Beirendonck and Dirk Van Saene, they combine all the above to provide a well rounded overview of this important, although short lived, art movement.

The exhibition combines historical works such as, Rene Magritte’s “Le Modele Rouge III”, Salvador Dali, “Mae West Lips Sofa”. 1937- 38, and Elsa Schiaparelli, “The Skeleton Dress” 1938, with more recent works by Cindy Sherman, Martin Margiela, Andrea Camarosano, Sarah Lucas and Van Beirendonck’s, “Finally Chesthair” 1997, which reproduces Walter’s own chest on a stretch fit tee shirt, (please provide your own belly). This full exhibition, with over 200 works, shows the influence that surrealism continues to have on the creative output of today.

“Vreemde Dingen” is realized in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and Mondriaan Stichting, Amsterdam.

Breaking all the rules in fashion and design, Bernhard Willhelm, a German native residing in Belgium, uses colors, volumes and themes that challenge labeling. In 1999, Willhelm started with womenswear, an assemblage that premiered at fashion shows in Paris. The designer fashioned his first collection of menswear in 2000, which he didn’t allow the public to view until 2003’s Menswear Fashion Week. Other accomplishments include a showing of his work organized in 2003 by the Ursula Blickle Art Foundation in Germany, coupled with the publishing of his book in 2004 by Lukas & Sternberg. In 2005, the orphans’ aid association Misericordia asked him to design the school’s uniforms. In addition, he has launched his first shoe line and created the “White Wild Bunch,” a clothing line only available online at YOOX. Willhelm attended Royal Academy of Antwerp in Belgium and worked alongside Walter Van Beirendonck, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Dirk Bikkembergs.

Japanese artist and fashion designer Mihara Yasuhiro challenges the boundaries of fashion and sports in both design and execution. Yasuhiro, who is also known as Miharayasuhiro, recently released a collector’s book in conjunction with PUMA that showcases four Japanese artists who have all been influenced by the PUMA Mihara footwear collection. PUMA by Mihara Yasuhiro began in 2000 with the launch of a sneaker collection, bringing together a wealth of culture and original design from Japanese influences. This new and promising partnership has resulted in a fresh and vibrant collection of sneakers. PUMA by Mihara Yasuhiro was one of the first PUMA designer collaborations and became an integral part in establishing PUMA’s sport and fashion revolution. In 1998, Yasuhiro opened his first store, SOSU (“prime number”) in Aoyama, Japan, followed by his second store in Fukuoka, Japan in 2000, and his third store in Osaka, Japan in 2002. After becoming successful in the footwear industry, Yasuhiro expanded his creativity in design apparel for men and women and made his worldwide debut with Pitti Uomo in Florence, Italy. He has also worked with Aprica, was featured in Sneaker Freaker Magazine. Yasuhiro graduated from Tama Art University in 1997.