This season, she is introducing footwear for the first time, notably variations of the traditional boat shoe. “I grew up with them; but also, Cookie [Mueller] spent a lot of time in Provincetown, New England. She was working in the harbour and the boats,” Rogge says. “I thought the hints to that were charming.” The small footwear collection is available in the showroom.
Backstage at the show, there are also tables filled with accessories, notably jewellery pieces — safety pins, studs and pearls in bold proportion — made in collaboration with Antwerp-based jewellery brand Wouters & Hendrix. However, for now, jewellery is just being produced for the show and to support another Belgian brand.
What about handbags? “We have a start of something, but we cannot call it a handbag collection,” she says. Rogge was inspired by vintage woodcutting bags. “It’s basically two handles and a piece of fabric to transport to wood,” she explains. In the show, models transported flowers in this style of bag.
There are also imposing double-tip belts for SS26. Like a harness? “It’s not part of my vocabulary because I don’t think women should be put in harnesses. It’s just to create a stronger accessory identity, which was important to be in this punkish language,” she says. “Our women are functioning women in society that have jobs, have families, obligations, things to do; I don’t see the point of putting them in corsets, or any of that.”
