ModeMuseum Antwerpen

51°13′2.5″N 4°23′59.5″E / 51.217361°N 4.399861°E / 51.217361; 4.399861

• MoMu - Fashion Museum Antwerp
• ModeMuseum Antwerpen
• MoMu Antwerp

The ModeNatie building, within which MoMu is situated.
Established	September 2002
Location	Antwerp
Type	fashion museum
Collection size	25,000 item of collection or exhibition, 38,000 item of collection or exhibition
Director	Kaat Debo
Website	https://www.momu.be/

MoMu (Mode Museum) is the fashion museum of the City of Antwerp, Belgium and collects, conserves, studies and exhibits the largest collection of historical and contemporary designer fashion in Belgium, and holds the largest collection of Belgian fashion in the world.^[1] The museum focuses specifically on Belgian fashion designers and alumni of the Fashion Department due to the number of acclaimed designers who studied there during the 1980s and 1990s, including Martin Margiela and the Antwerp Six.

Since 2002, the museum has been located in the centre of Antwerp in the ModeNatie building on Nationalestraat. ModeNatie also houses Flanders District of Creativity, the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp), and the Renaissance restaurant. Linda Loppa, MoMu's first director was also the founder and director of the Antwerp Fashion Department. MoMu's current director and chief curator is Kaat Debo.^[2] The museum is under the administration of Antwerp province.^[3]

The ModeNatie building dates back to the nineteenth century, where it housed the Hôtel Central and the clothing shop New England.^[4] It served various purposes throughout the twentieth century until 1997, when the building was assigned to Flanders Fashion Institute (now Flanders District of Creativity) by the City of Antwerp.^[5]

In 1999, Ghent-based architect Marie-José Van Hee was commissioned to renovate the building, and on September 21st 2002, MoMu officially opened its doors.^[6] From April 2018 to September 2021, the museum was closed for renovations by the architecture firm B-architecten, adding 800m² of public space while preserving Van Hee's original design.^[7]

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MoMu's collection contains over 40,000 items: clothing, accessories, and textiles, as well as more unexpected pieces such as tools and machines used in production. The collection is constantly growing with new acquisitions, loans, and donations from private individuals, designers, or fashion houses. These items are used for research, MoMu exhibitions, and international loans to other museums.

MoMu's historical collection began with 17,000 pieces from the former provincial Costume and Textile Museum Vrieselhof (Provinciale Kostuum- en Textielmuseum) in Oelegem.^[8] In 2011, this collection gained over 2000 18th-, 19th-, and early-20th-century objects from the private Dutch collector, Jacoba de Jonge.^[9]

Since 2011, MoMu's acquisition policy prioritises contemporary designer fashion.^[10] Sizable donations from Linda Loppa and Christine Matthijs initiated this part of the collection, which has since grown with donations from Dries Van Notenand Bernhard Willhelm among many others.^[11] MoMu also receives long-term loans to its collection, including from Walter Van Beirendonck, Stephen Jones, and Geert Bruloot and Eddy Michiels, the founders of the former shoe shop Coccodrillo.^[12]

The Dries Van Noten Study Center (DVNSC) supports research and educational activities, participating in national and international projects, hosting activities, and creating an accessible collection of garments and accessories - the Study Collection.^[13] This collection consists of over 2000 objects and is housed in the MoMu library for public consultation.

In addition to the fashion and costume collection, the museum also houses a vast library collection. The MoMu Library is an academic library for historical and contemporary fashion and textiles, with over 15,000 books, an archive of reference works and ephemera, hundreds of contemporary and historical magazines, and a digital database of images.

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Since its opening, MoMu has organised a continuous programme of exhibitions. Centred around specific themes or designers, these exhibitions create a narrative of the cultural and historical significance of fashion. To achieve this, a designer's sources of inspiration, works from other disciplines, and many other forms of information are displayed alongside articles of clothing. MoMu works closely with designers and their teams to develop their exhibition concepts. MoMu's exhibitions have also travelled to Paris, Stockholm, London, Tokyo, Munich, Istanbul, Enschede and Melbourne.

After an extensive three-year renovation ending in September 2021, MoMu opened two new exhibition spaces; one to display its permanent collection, and a second temporary exhibition space.^[14]

In addition to the Permanent Collection display, which permanently rotates, MoMu hosts thematic temporary exhibitions, which can be seen in the following table, as well as on MoMu's online exhibition archive.

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