Wim Bruynooghe — LENA

LENA

Wim Bruynooghe hails from the Belgian seaside, the beautiful town of De Haan, and stuns with his poetic, artistic creations for girls who love to linger by the seaside. The basis of this collection is a research process studying the bond between an artist and his muse,and the harmonies but also sacrifices and compromises that arise from this bond. The muse's personality is always covered in the ideals of the artist. This is translated into silhouettes where a duality between under- and upper layers exists, the unde rlayers being more wearable and simple (muse's personality), the upper layers being more sleek, couture-like (big bows) and impenetrable (artiost's ideal). Caught between layers of rubber sit graphic elements in Chinese ink that represent the memory of the muse, forming a kind of cultural fossil. The graphics relate to the horizontality of the sea and the Belgian coastal town of Ostend, with its circular steps and the interplay of architectural lines on the horizon. Bruynooghe thus fuses a very personal take on feminity with references to the muse in art history and to his own sea-side roots.
The beautiful sandals with this collection are pristine examples of a pure and uncompromised femininity. Wim, who experimented himself with the rubber and other unlikely materials for this collection, plans to work for film, theatre and fashion design projects that combine his love for sculptural objects and strong , inspiring women.

Thank you

THANKS TO My mother, my father and Marie-Paul, for the unconditional love and support. Laurtje, for standing by me. MC, Monique, Annie, Sonia'tje,… All of my family and friends! Anna, Roman, Erna, Corinne van Tongerloo and Delfine Bafort. Lee Wei Swee, for the wonderful shoot. Arina, Tosca, Stéphanie and all of the other models. Hyun De Grande, Hassel Dehaes, Ben De Raes, Eva De Keersmaeker,… The whole film crew, thank you so much! Special thanks to Iwe Pée ONE-OFF DESIGN, JVS Lederhandel, Fort Napoleon, Herita, Toerisme Oostende, Kurt Stockman and André Nolf. My teachers at the Academy: Katarina, Yvonne'tje, Anne, Chris, Dirk, Heidi'tje, Elke and Walter. Thank you for believing in me! :)