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Back in the 1960s Vogue ran a food column called “A Second Fame.” I love the broader concept—how exciting it is to discover something unknown and wonderful about a person you’re acquainted with. In the case of David Flamée, the longtime director of PR and communications for MoMu in Antwerp, I came to learn about his first fame quite by accident. It seems that this six-foot-two Belgian with an easy smile knows fashion inside out, having modeled for the likes of Raf Simons and Walter Van Beirendonck. Flamée worked most closely, however, with Ann Demeulemeester. “I wanted to work with intriguing boys who were real and who added emotions with their own personality. I found a lot of my boys at rock concerts or art receptions. I formed a loyal crew of boys. They became friends and part of my family,” the designer wrote in a recent email. She explained that her husband, Patrick Robyn, first met Flamée in 1998 at a reception and was “struck by his presence. He told me that he found an angelic boy for the collection. We were working on a white collection at that time, and David seemed just the right boy for this. We started working with him for the styling of that show. There was a lovely calm atmosphere in our studio. He was not a model but just like an angel who walked for us. David had something unique, a certain calm innocence that was inspiring.”
With fashion having yet another Belgian moment, Flamée shares his memories of working with members of the Antwerp Six and his journey from the catwalk to the museum.
Vogue: What were your childhood dreams? Did they involve fashion?
David Flamée: I loved to read and loved book designs and covers as a child. My grandmother knitted, and I remember bringing her pictures of sweaters from fashion magazines that she then knitted for me. In the Belgian fashion press, there was at that time a lot of attention to Belgian fashion. Four times a year they covered the men’s and women’s collections; there were full pages in the newspapers and interviews and shoots in the magazines and things like that. I started to pick up on all these strange things and how you could create a world with clothes.
How did you become a model?
My sister put me up for it, actually, via an open casting call for Raf Simons. I remember it being in a Belgian magazine, Weekend Connect, and on Studio Brussel, an alternative-music radio channel. My sister filled in the application, and then we went to the casting in Antwerp. After that there was a fitting. I remember Raf and his team being so warm and welcoming and explaining. I was a boy from the country [from Oudenaarde, about an hour outside of Antwerp]. My very first show was Raf Simons spring 1998, titled Black Palms. I was 18 years old then. The show was in a garage to the beats of Lords of Acid.
We were all Belgian boys going by bus to Paris, and we didn’t know each other, so it was really like a strange school trip. I was 18, but some people were younger, so their parents came along. It was really before there were alternative model agencies; that came later.
I started modeling when I was still a student. It’s something I really loved, so I wanted to do it all the time. The men’s shows were in June, after exams, and then in January. I was a very shy person, but what draws me always to fashion is how wearing a shirt or whatever garment can really change your mood and change your person also. With shows, I liked being part of a certain project that the designers wanted to express.
What qualities do you think the designers found in you?
I think it’s because I was not a regular model. I was really like a country boy from a very small village.
What was your personal style at the time?
At that age you’re busy with yourself and how you look, of course. I was already very tall. I was not buying designer clothing but normal teenager stuff. At that time I was also obsessed with Wild and Lethal Trash [a brand by Walter Van Beirendonck]. I had the accessories, like the belt, things I could afford. I was into new-wave things, but that didn’t mean I was only listening to new-wave music.
What was the fashion scene like in Antwerp then?
I did not live in Antwerp at that time. I studied communications—a mix of languages and economics—in Ghent, but somehow I knew that for fashion you needed to go to Antwerp. That’s where the concept store of Walter Van Beirendonck and Dirk Van Saene opened. It was a multibrand store, and then there was a small gallery; it was like an old garage. They did really crazy things in that gallery. I remember them having the spray-paint installation for Alexander McQueen’s 1999 ready-to-wear show in the window display!
Tell us about working with Walter Van Beirendonck…
My first show for Walter was 1998–1999, where he was inspired by the French artist Orlan and a few of us had prosthetic makeup. For the show’s finale, big yellow curtains on one side of the venue’s walls opened up and we had to stand in a tableau of a fairy tale. It was so impressive. Walter is so ahead of the time. With all his projects and collections, he always has a concept drawn out and thought over. I like that way of working.
…and with Ann Demeulemeester?
In 1998 I was at a party in Antwerp where Patrick Robyn noticed me and got my number via Inge Grognard. She’s a makeup artist, and she worked for Ann a lot and also for Raf in the beginning. There was no Instagram, so a lot of things happened over the phone; my parents would tell me, “There is this person on the line for you.”
That’s when I started modeling for Ann. She used to show her men’s collection during her women’s show. For the first show I had three or four outfits. I remember being very nervous. From that season I worked for seven years, 14 collections, for the men’s stylings and also as a showroom model. That was really great because I had the opportunity to witness up close when she decided on the looks, trying on and styling the collection together with her husband and publicist Michèle Montagne, and then for a week in Paris after the show when they sold the collections to buyers. I was able to see the differences between the Asian, American, and European shops. With Ann I had the most complete experience.
Do you see any similarities among Simons, Demeulemeester, and Van Beirendonck?
They’re so different from each other, but one thing that they have in common is that they’re really very grounded people, very down-to-earth. They’re still ambitious, but I saw that it was all about working and expressing yourself. They were very individual also in their way. I respect their work ethic the most. It’s not about parties; all of them have a real passion, and I’m so blessed to have witnessed that. It’s also something I nowadays take with me. And it was like a family in the way you see that you can achieve things.
In your opinion, how do you think fashion has changed since the 1990s?
It became more and more commercial. The biggest challenge for young, independent designers is to find their audience and be heard.
Why do you think people are so interested in the 1990s?
They are drawn to a certain nostalgia [for something] that they never had. It’s also a period in fashion that is not overshared. There are sometimes only a few key images, so it still leaves something to the imagination.
Does it feel like a Belgian moment again to you?
Belgian designers have always worked at big fashion houses, and they still do; now there is Matthieu Blazy at Bottega, Pieter Mulier at Alaïa, Raf Simons at Prada, Glenn Martens at Diesel and Jean Paul Gaultier…. Students are coming from all over the world to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, so being a Belgian fashion designer has more to do with the sensibilities of the designers [than nationality]. It means working with a deep respect for history and craftsmanship.
How did you come to work at MoMu [Mode Museum]?
In 2001 I did an internship at the Antwerp Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, helping them with their graduation show. Linda Loppa was the head of the department at the time; she was also in charge of the Flanders Fashion Institute (now Flanders DC for Fashion) promoting fashion and the director of MoMu Fashion Museum. There was such good energy, and immediately after the show she hired me to work at the Flanders Fashion Institute. Sometimes it was funny because I was taking care of the press when they entered and then I was also walking the show. I worked there for eight years. At the time we went to all the Paris fashion weeks to distribute a little red guide with the show and showroom addresses of the Belgian designers—it was pre-internet. Since 2002 I have also helped the RCA fashion department with their international jury and press for the graduation show. In 2009 I started handling press and PR for MoMu.
What Belgian designers are you following now?
I work with Jan-Jan Van Essche, a men’s designer based in Antwerp. His way of growing is very true to himself and conscious. I’m also following Meryll Rogge, another designer who is very down to the ground.
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This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
