The Beautiful Chaos of Essentiel Antwerp!

When I found out I was going to be attending the Brand ambassador days hosted by Essentiel Antwerp in Belgium, I must admit a did do a little happy dance!

I have been at The Dressing Room for 17 years now and Essentiel Antwerp has always been one of my favourite brands. The brand was launched in 1999 by Esfan Eghtessadi and Inge Onsea, with the notion to ‘battle fashion boredom’ creating collections full of colourful surprises.

Our relationship with the brand has gone from strength to strength over the years and we are now very proud to be one of the few Brand Ambassadors for Essentiel Antwerp in the UK. This relationship with them gives us opportunity to have a strong stock holiding and showcase the brand to it’s maximum potential.

Essentiel Antwerp, in their own words is ‘refreshing, offbeat, luxurious fashion, designed to provoke and emotional response’. This sums up the brands personality perfectly and Amee and I were very excited to join them for this special two day event, after many many discussions about what to pack to wear of course!

After an eye wateringly early start, we hopped off the Eurostar, met the wonderful Anais (UK agent for the brand) and headed straight for a beautiful lunch and meet/greet with other Essentiel Brand ambassadors from all over Europe. It was fascinating to hear everyone’s take on the brand and how it relates to their relevant customer base. This was followed by a talk from some of the very passionate Essentiel Antwerp team, who gave us a great insight into what’s coming for the brand and the buzz around the opening of their very first store in the US in New York! A huge global move for the brand.

After a tour of Antwerp’s top fashion stores we headed back to our hotel for a quick  glam up for the evening… which was very cool indeed!

The brands encaptivating Creative Dirtector Inge introduced the Spring catwalk collection and also let slip that she is going to be a judge on up and coming series of Belgium’s Next Top Model, which was met with lots of excited cheers!

The show was fantastic, full of bold colour combos, sequins and eclectic print, in true Essentiel Antwerp style! After that, as instructed to by Inge herself we partied the night away, enjoying cocktails, a bit of a dance and lots of chat with the Essentiel Antwerp fashion team from all over Europe. It was so nice to see such an eclectic mix of people, from all ages and back grounds coming together to have fun and celebrate the brand.

The following day we got to visit the Flagship store in Antwerp, which was highly impressive: Their signature pink donned the walls with sleek gold rails, marble floor and a sweeping staircase, all there to help show off the beautiful, bold collection to its fullest. Following this we had an informative talk on Merchandising with the Essentiel Antwerp top VM team and a workshop followed to give us hints and tips of how to display the pieces in store.

Finally we got a tour of the phenomenal Essentiel Antwerp HQ building, which was just awe-inspiring. We got a sneak peek everything behind the scenes from the customer service teams, to online crew, the photography department and the design room (which is full of the most fabulous painted prints and huge boxes of sequins…I just wanted to live in there!)

The whole place was absolutely stunning and so inspirational. Not just the building but the team behind it all seem to have such a passion for the brand and what it represents that it left us feeling very inspired and excited to report back to everyone at The Dressing Room.

As I said I’ve always loved the brand but this just enhanced my admiration for it and their whole ethos. The owners and their team have created a fun, fashionably fabulous business with a family team vibe behind it, which is great to see. I can’t wait for you all to see what’s to come for the next season for Essential Antwerp, I think you’ll love it as much as we do!

Charlotte x