Fashion Design in city requalification. Antwerp and its fashion hub.

Abstract

After years of domination of fashion capitals as Paris, Milan, London and New York the city of Antwerp is currently well-recognized as a fashion city. The impact of the rise of well-known designers and fashion institutes played a crucial role on the regeneration of the city, tourism and employability. Fashion design had an important cultural value in the construction of collective and individual identities, the image of a nation, region, city or heritage value. From a first overview of the concept of creative industries it will be researched the relation of these industries with the urban environment and the public policies. In the specific, the creative industry of fashion design will be related to the city of Antwerp urban environment and the process of branding it as a “fashion city”. After an outline of Antwerp fashion design history and evolution, will be highlighted the role of the principal private and public institution, form the 80s ITCB to the recent activity of FFI, in the process of capitalization and incorporation of this specific creative industry in the public agenda. The final consideration will be about the real extend to which is possible to plan a creative city and how far a creative hub is the result of deliberate action or autonomous emerging processes.