Kings of Brussels: A Fashion Editorial in the Capital of Belgium
When venturing through the streets of Brussels, you can always expect the unexpected. Though Brussels tries hard to be like the Paris of Belgium, I would say that Brussels is more like a Belgian New York: dirty subways, angry pigeons, and people on the go. For all of the above reasons, I wanted this fashion series to reflect some of the contrasts that make up the fabric of our capital: mobile yet static, old and new, posh and hip, nestled (or lodged) within the heart of Europe and at the same time incredibly diverse.
With model Axel Bouhon (@azeriah7) and model and stylist Nii Okai Collins (@styled_by_nii), as well as my partner and makeup artist Zarina Zabrisky (Red Lipstick Makeup), we set out to frame our fashion editorial in front of the Royal Palace—the epicenter of Brussels and its many binaries. Since my last visit to Brussels, before the pandemic, it was noticeable how much Brussels had modernized: electric scooters were littered everywhere and no crosswalk was complete without hurried VIPs zooming by on their way to their next lunch meeting (or early happy hour). Thankfully, I had installed a couple of apps from the many scooter brands that I’d seen scattered across the city, so that it was quick (but not so easy) to grab one for our editorial, and put Axel’s first-time driving skills to the test. It turns out that riding a scooter is not like riding a bicycle: it takes a few trials to find one that works, but once you find one with a full battery, the learning curve lasts about 0.5 seconds, as evidenced in these shots.
Next it was Nii’s turn to enact what a busy day in Brussels might look like. To match his suitsupply attire, I chose the fountain as a backdrop, to add some blues and pastels to the color palette. A couple of whirls around the fountain and Nii was modeling the scooter like a pro.
In addition to the contrast between the backdrop and the models, I also wanted to play with the contrast between the models themselves. One a stylish businessman, the other an artist or aspiring actor, the difference in fashion attire highlighted their different personalities, crossing paths as friends in a capital that weaves together the fabric made up of so many differences: social layers, languages, ethnicities, regions and countries.
The real apotheosis of this play of contrasts arrived at the end of our shoot, when a homeless man asked if I could take his photograph. In the heat of the moment, while lying on the pavement in order to get a good angle that included model and palace, I didn’t notice that, in many ways, the man looked even more fashionable than the model. With his “Icon Milano” t-shirt, carefully matched with his red boots, I could only admire his attention to style even in the most difficult of circumstances. A truly serendipitous moment, that certainly instilled the lesson not to judge a book by its cover.
