About | Tim Van Steenbergen

Photography: Dirk Alexander

Tim Van Steenbergen graduated Magna cum Laude at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts (fashion department, textile creation and theatre costume). Subsequently he took classes in drapery and couture techniques and worked as assistant of Olivier Theyskens.
His first collection was launched in 2001 in Paris and in the same year he set up his company Mitzlavv bvba.

Meanwhile he’s up to his twenty third collection/fashion show and the label Tim Van Steenbergen is being sold in the best designer shops all over the world. His style evolves into a refined pureness and female elegance. He is a master of contemporary drapery and every detail, high quality standards, tradition and craftsmanship are being cared for.

Tim designs the costumes for international movie, theatre, dance and opera creations as for Anne Teresa de Keersmaecker, Guy Cassiers and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

Between 2010 and 2013 Tim Van Steenbergen is creating the costumes for Richard Wagner’s opera cycle ‘Der Ring des Nibelungen’, Teatro alla Scala in Milan and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.

Nowadays Tim Van Steenbergen is increasingly evolving into a creative lab.
Recent developments thereof are ‘Metronome’, a first light design for Delta Light, an interior fabrics collection in collaboration with Aristide and total interior concepts Tim Van Steenbergen with Boa Interior.

Philosophy

The challenge in my work is the search for authenticity and artisanship in fashion.
The difference between confection and prêt-à-porter or couture is to be found in how it is made.
Handwork, quality of fabric, building a piece layer by layer, differentiates my work from confection.
I’m in search of old values in a new world.

The motivation in my work is to transfer craftsmanship and the old values into different and modern designs.
Due to my belief in artisanship, every garment is created by hand on the dummy to develop its characteristic shape.
These traditional construction process and unique draping techniques guarantee a high appreciated quality and an exclusive collection.

Studio Tim Van Steenbergen

The studio of Tim Van Steenbergen is located in a 19th century mansion close to the historical site of the Antwerp military hospital. An eclectic interior were fashion meets art, historical elements are confronted with design and vintage furniture.

The studio Tim Van Steenbergen is the optimal place to realize his ideas, situated in the pocketsize metropolis Antwerp. This refreshing cosmopolitan owes its reputation to the mighty part, the world diamond centre and its trendsetting vision of fashion.

This welcoming multicultural city-on-the-river the Scheld, is an intelligent, complex, fascinating and surprising habitat with a magnificent contemporary architecture, opera and theatre, monuments and artworks as well as its historical medieval centre.

The home of the Flemish Baroque master Rubens.

The Red Star line company set off its ships on the transatlantic voyage with millions of emigrants who set out for a new life in the States and Canada.

Nowadays Antwerp is one of the fastest growing cultural cruise destinations in Europe.

“Due to its excellent acces, it pushes you to travel the world looking for new impressions and personal experiences.”

“After all it is an attractive place to come home from where you can work independently and with an open minded view on the rest of the world.”

Creations

‘Hanjo’, opera, Festival Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence / the Monnaie Brussels
‘Hersenschimmen’, theater , Ro Theater Rotterdam
‘d’Un Soir un Jour’ and ‘Steve Reich Evening’, dance, Rosas / the Monnaie Brussels
‘Triptych of Power; ‘Mefisto’, ‘Wolfskers’ and ‘Atropa’, theater, Toneelhuis Antwerp / Festival d’Avignon / Théâtre de la Ville de Paris
‘The House of the Sleeping Beauties’, opera, LOD / Toneelhuis Antwerp / the Monnaie Brussels
‘Adam in Exile’, opera, Opera of Amsterdam
‘La Chanteuse du Tango’, movie by Diego Martinez Vignatti with Eugénia Ramirez.
‘Prélude à la Mer’, movie, Rosas / Thierry De Mey
‘Das Rheingold’, Teatro alla Scala / Staatsoper Unter den Linden
‘Blood & Roses, the Song of Joan and Gilles’, theatre , Toneelhuis Antwerp / Festival d’Avignon
‘Die Walküre’, Teatro alla Scala / Staatsoper Unter den Linden
‘Labyrinth’, dance, National Ballet Amsterdam, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
‘Siegfried’, Teatro alla Scala / Staatsoper Unter den Linden
‘Götterdämmerung’, Teatro alla Scala / Staatsoper Unter den Linden
‘Milonga’, dance, Sadlers Wells, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
‘MCBTH’, theater, Toneelhuis / Spectra Ensemble / Vocaallab
‘Romeo & Julia’, ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders
‘Hamlet’, theater, Toneelhuis / Toneelgroep Amsterdam
‘Het vertrek van de Mier’, theater, Toneelhuis / Het Paleis / Kunstz
‘Firebird’, ballet, Stuttgarter Ballett
‘Passions Humaines’, theater, costumes and set, Toneelhuis / Mons Culturele Hoofdstad
‘Xerse’, costumes and set, Opéra De Lille
‘Caligula’, costumes and set, Toneelhuis
‘De welwillenden’, costumes and set, Toneelhuis / Toneelgroep Amsterdam
‘Pictures at an exhibition’, ballet, costumes and set, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Sidi Larbi Charkaoui
‘Ma mère l’oye’, ballet, costumes and set, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Jeroen Verbruggen
‘Trompe la mort’, opera, costumes and set, Opéra national de Paris
‘Grensgeval’, theatre, costumes and set, Toneelhuis
‘Movement in Blue’ & ‘Movement in White’, Tim Van Steenbergen X Ashtari Carpets
‘Het kleine meisje van meneer Linh’, costumes, Toneelhuis
‘Vergeef ons’, costumes, Toneelhuis / Toneelgroep Amsterdam