MY BOUTIQUE
Kaat Tilley — Brussels
Kaat Tilley’s clothes find inspiration in the past
Text Emily Stefania Coscione
With a collaboration with Opéra Royal de Wallonie planned for 2009, designer Kaat Tilly shows her talent can bridge the worlds of culture and art.
Her boutique in central Brussels is an oasis of romantic, fairy-tale textiles, shapes and styles. Kaat sees beauty as an inner need rather than a luxury or a vanity.
“I wanted to create clothes for women who are looking to express their own individuality,” she says. “It’s about a personal style which allows the unique qualities we each have to come out.”
She has established herself as an artist whose creations go far beyond the ephemeral world of fashion. Kaat paints, makes jewellery, designs furniture and interiors, and is involved in music, cinema and theatre. Every collection, she explains, comes from fragments of ideas — cursory sketches, words jotted down in her ever-present notebook — which often take years to reach fruition.
“My inspiration comes from historical figures, women who were brave but who weren’t afraid to allow their inner fragility to show. I try to instil a little of their strength and wisdom into my creations.”
Given this sell, no wonder her work is popular with the likes of Halle Berry and Melanie Griffith.
KAAT TILLEY
Koningsgallerij 4 Brussels
www.kaattilley.com