I was especially inspired by the photograph of the cornrows decorated with colourful pins. I found it both beautiful and powerful. The coloured pins felt playful yet meaningful, expressing individuality and cultural identity. As someone who is half Belgian and half Senegalese, this image resonated with me on a personal level.
The small hidden rooms with miniature dolls also stayed with me. They reminded me of my childhood and the small imaginary worlds I used to create. It showed me how identity and creativity often begin in those intimate, playful spaces.
01
MOMU: GIRLS
25/11/2025
The MoMu Girls Collection at MoMu - ModeMuseum Antwerpen explores girlhood, identity and self-expression through fashion. The exhibition shows how clothing shapes the way young girls see themselves and how personal and cultural stories can be translated into visual details.
02
Lectures by Michela Orante
24/03/2026 & 26/03/2026
During the Week Without Borders, Dr. Michela Ornati, Senior Lecturer
(Associate Professor) at SUPSI — the University of Applied Sciences and Arts
of Southern Switzerland — gave two guest lectures about fashion, luxury,
touch, and technology. She is specialized in fashion and luxury marketing,
communication, and digital fashion. Dr. Ornati also has more than thirty
years of experience in leading companies such as Bulgari and Giorgio Armani.
Contact information speaker:
Dr. Michela Ornati
SUPSI – University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland
Via Cantonale 16e, CH-6928 Manno, Switzerland
Email: michela.ornati@supsi.ch
Website: www.supsi.ch/en
In the first lecture, Touch and Technology in Digital Fashion, she explained how touch is one of the most important human senses and how it influences the way people experience clothing and fashion. She discussed the concept of haptics, also called active touch, and explained how touching fabrics and garments helps people understand materials, textures, and quality. She also spoke about how, throughout history, touch became less important while vision became dominant in modern society.
Another important topic was the influence of technology and digital fashion. Dr. Ornati explained how online shopping and digital technologies change the way consumers experience clothing because people cannot physically touch garments anymore. Instead, they rely on images, videos, text descriptions, virtual fitting technologies, and other digital tools. She also discussed virtual reality, haptic technologies, and technological mediation in fashion, explaining how technology shapes people’s emotions, behavior, and experiences with clothing.
The second lecture focused on uniforms in luxury hospitality and hotels. During this lecture, she explained how uniforms are designed to represent the identity, values, and professionalism of a company. Uniforms can communicate status, function, and skills, while also influencing the behavior and appearance of employees. She discussed how luxury uniforms often include carefully selected colors, fabrics, accessories, hairstyles, makeup, and shoes to create a complete and professional image. Culture, climate, comfort, and functionality are also important elements when designing uniforms for international luxury companies.
Self-reflection after the lectures
The second lecture about uniforms in the luxury sector was the most interesting to me and also the most relevant for my future. During this lecture, it became clear how important uniforms are within hotels and other luxury environments. Before this lecture, I mainly saw uniforms as practical workwear, but now I understand that there is much more behind them. A uniform should not only look professional and elegant, but also be comfortable, functional, and aligned with the identity of the company.
During the lecture, Dr. Michela Ornati explained how uniforms in luxury hospitality are carefully designed to communicate the image and values of a company. I found it interesting that uniforms can influence not only appearance, but also behavior. When employees wear luxurious and well-designed uniforms, they often appear more professional, confident, and elegant. This showed me that fashion has a strong psychological and social impact.
One of the most important things I learned is that designers must think about every detail. Culture and climate are very important when designing uniforms. In some countries, certain clothing styles or sleeve lengths may be more appropriate because of cultural expectations. Climate also affects the choice of fabrics and materials. In warm countries, lightweight and breathable fabrics are necessary, while in colder environments thicker and warmer materials are more suitable. Because of this lecture, I now pay much more attention to details in clothing and uniforms.
I also found the discussion about fabrics and tactility very interesting. During the first lecture, Dr. Ornati explained that touch is essential in the way people experience fashion and garments. Fabrics can create comfort or discomfort and influence emotions and experiences. This made me realize how important materials are within fashion design and workwear. In online shopping, consumers cannot physically touch garments, so technology tries to recreate that sensory experience through images, videos, virtual fitting tools, and haptic technologies. I found this very interesting because digital technology is becoming increasingly important within the fashion industry.
During the lecture, examples of companies such as Maurel were also discussed. The company designed uniforms for public schools in 1975, for the Jolly Hotel Group in 1984, and later collaborated on the Armani Hotel in 2010. I found this inspiring because it showed how design, branding, and collaboration are connected within luxury hospitality.
Some parts of the lectures connected with knowledge I already had from my work experience, but the presentations gave me a much deeper understanding of fashion, luxury, and uniforms. These lectures also made me think more about my future career. I think it would be interesting to work in a job where attention to detail, uniforms, or luxury fashion plays an important role.
Overall, this activity helped me understand that fashion is much more than simply designing clothes. It is connected to identity, comfort, culture, technology, emotions, and communication. In the future, I want to use this knowledge to pay more attention to details, fabrics, and the way clothing affects people’s experiences and behavior.
03
13/05/2026
Van de Velde NV
Lageweg 4
9260 Schellebelle
Belgium
Tel. +32 (0) 9 365 21 00
info@vandevelde.eu
During the tour, we received explanations about different departments within the company and learned more about the three brands of Van de Velde: Marie Jo, Primadonna, and Sarda.
Marie Jo creates elegant lingerie and swimwear with a perfect fit, helping women feel comfortable and confident. Their designs are inspired by art, architecture, and design, and often include refined details.
Primadonna mainly focuses on lingerie for women with a larger cup size. Their main focus is comfort, support, and style. They also have collections such as Primadonna Twist, Primadonna Swim, and Primadonna Sport. It was impressive to see how much craftsmanship and technical knowledge is involved in creating these collections.
Sarda is a more modern and daring brand with a strong fashion identity. They aim to combine comfortable lingerie with attitude and bold designs. We also learned that Sarda is not entirely produced in Belgium and that another team also works on the brand. In addition, they even had a stand at Coachella, which shows how international and trendy the brand has become.
The department I personally found the most interesting was Technical Product. Here, they work in an extremely detailed way on the products. We received explanations about samples, stitching, testing, and technical files in which everything is worked out down to the millimeter. I found it very interesting to see how precise and perfectionistic their way of working is.
After that, we visited the Technical Drawing department. Here, patterns are created digitally and sent to the cutting room. They constantly adjust the patterns based on testing results. We also learned about the embroidery calculator, where they carefully calculate how the lace and patterns should align before cutting.
Finally, we received explanations from the pattern makers. They often start purely visually and discuss materials and fitting extensively. Once a concept is created, they help with fitting and support the entire process. They start from one base size and then grade the patterns into different sizes while checking every detail carefully. Trial and error plays an important role in this process.
I found this excursion especially interesting because I recognized many things from our classes, such as process analysis, pattern drawing, prototyping, and CAD. It was very inspiring to see how everything we learn at school is applied in a real professional company environment.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures because they were working on new collections at that moment. Designing a collection takes around 18 months before it finally reaches the stores.
work in progress..
