Fashion Talks 2025 in Antwerp explores fashion’s future and media impact

Last week, Antwerp strengthened its status as a fashion metropolis with Fashion Talks and the four-hour fashion showcase by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts 2025. The event combined the conference and showroom format with the Academy’s final shows during the summer for the first time. Organiser Flanders DC (District of Creativity) plans to expand this emerging fashion week format starting in 2026.

Going forward, Fashion Talks will take place annually alongside the Academy’s final shows in June, replacing the previous biennial format. The Belgian Fashion Awards will continue to be presented each autumn, alternating between Antwerp and Brussels, as Cools announced at the Arenberg Theater.

During the Fashion Walk—a curated city route featuring temporary showrooms by Antwerp-based designers—visitors also discovered three emerging talents from the DACH region: designer Marcel Sommer from Tübingen, Florentina Leitner from Vienna, and bag and accessories designer Marie Bernadette Woehrl from Schrobenhausen, Upper Bavaria.

All three designers have chosen to work in Antwerp, drawn by the city’s creative energy and the strong sense of community in its fashion scene. Detailed portraits of each designer will appear in the coming weeks.

But what insights did Fashion Talks 2025 offer? “The fashion industry is the one that literally touches people most closely—and that will never change,” said Pascal Cools, managing director of Flanders DC, in his opening speech at the seventh edition of Fashion Talks. The event took place at the Arenberg Theater on Arenbergstraat for the first time, moving from its previous venue at the historic Handelsbeurs.

Around 450 industry professionals attended the event. On stage, Patta co-founder Guillaume “Gee” Schmidt spoke with host Dominique Nzeyimana, while legendary stylist and creative director Karen Binns discussed her career with podcaster Recho Omondi.

Simon Gryspeert of Flanders DC moderated a conversation with fashion CEOs Ann Claes (CRG) and An Kluft (Pluto), who shared troubling observations from a recent trip to Ghana, where large volumes of used textiles continue to accumulate in unmanaged landfills.

In addition to supply chain challenges and persistent concerns around sustainability in fashion production and consumption, the Fashion Talks program also addressed media-related topics. Speakers explored how to enter the industry as an influencer or content creator, as well as the often tense relationship between these newer voices and traditional fashion media.

Flanders DC brought an ideal guest to the stage in Hanan Bešović. His Instagram account @ideservecouture—well worth following—has earned a spot in the BoF 500, even though the Croatian-born designer only began posting his sharp-witted fashion commentary during the pandemic in 2020.

His outspoken posts have placed him on the blacklists of several designers and luxury brands. Still, he accepts this with humor, as he explained to curators Elodie Ouedraogo and Elspeth Jenkins during a lively discussion at the packed Arenberg Theater.

Bešović first discovered fashion in 2010 through YouTube videos. The first show he ever watched was Alexander McQueen’s Plato’s Atlantis, which he viewed only because Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video was scheduled to premiere at the end.

That moment sparked his passion for fashion. Soon, designers such as Marc Jacobs, Olivier Rousteing, Jean Paul Gaultier, and John Galliano for Dior filled his screen. “I didn’t know much about the designers or the brands. I only knew they existed—but not that each had its own story,” he recalled.

Bešović attended his first live fashion show in 2022: a Valentino couture presentation in Venice. “There’s a legend that at least one person cries at Valentino shows—and in this case, that person was me,” he admitted.

He views his work as a content creator as fundamentally different from that of print journalists. “I just go and talk.” Bešović also noted that print media can face credibility issues due to advertising relationships. “You won’t read honest criticism in Vogue. If I want an honest opinion on a show, I turn to social media.” Yet ironically, Vogue has already interviewed him. “That’s how it goes,” he said with a smile.

Are influencers themselves beholden to brands? “I always speak my mind. I’m not afraid. Brands don’t have to invite me to their shows. I have wifi at home—I’ll watch the show anyway,” he said.

Brands often provide scripts when collaborating with influencers on paid content. “I understand their perspective, but no one knows my content better than I do. I know what works, and I tend to work better with brands that understand that.”

Bešović also acknowledged that print journalists enjoy greater access to designers. “There are 700 people at a show, but maybe only 10 who get to go backstage and speak with the designer.” At the same time, he pointed out that social media offers far broader visibility. “Without social media, we wouldn’t know Robert Wun or Benchellal.”

His advice to aspiring content creators applies to anyone in the media field: “Do what you like. Don’t follow others—find your own path. Do your own research, and go where no one else goes.”

Later in the day, Bešović returned to the Arenberg Schouwburg stage to interview Charlotte De Geyter, co-founder and creative director of womenswear label Bernadette Antwerp, during the closing session of Fashion Talks.