11 March 2026: Dries Debackere will present his PhD research on Verleysens-Nyssens, a Brussels-based exotic goods emporium, during the ThIS study day.
28–29 May 2026: Pauline Devriese will present her PhD research at the conference “A History of Textile Cleanliness: Washing and Perfuming Fabrics from the Medieval to the Modern Period” in Bern.
At the 15th edition of the Festival of Art History, taking place from June 5-7 around the theme of fashion, Revers will host a roundtable panel “Before the Antwerp Six: Rewriting the History of Belgian Fashion Through Women” with presentations by Lizzy Rys on Elisabeth D’Aubreby Van Swae, Dries Debackere on Hélène Nyssens, and Nele Bernheim on Honorine “Norine” Deschryver. Maude Bass-Krueger will present, in dialogue with Maialen Salcedo Burrueta (Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne), on the invention of fashion historiography as nation-building in France and Italy. More info about the event can be found here.

For more news, events and an overview of fashion exhibitions in Belgium, read the latest newsletter here.

Publication News:

Pauline Devriese has an abstract of her talk on fashion and perfume published in the conference proceedings “The Four Elements of Fashion,” published in December, 2025. You can read the proceedings open access here.
Karen Van Godtsenhoven, ‘“Vivre l’Époque”: A Relational Reading of Mood, Selfhood and Feminist World-Making in the Work of Sonia Rykiel," International Journal of Fashion Studies 12, Affiliative Fashion, Relational Analysis and Power, 2025, pp. 197–215, https://doi.org/10.1386/infs_00137_1.
Elena Vanden Abeele, “Frivolity and Modernity : Parasols in the Long Nineteenth Century,” Costume. The Journal of the Costume Society, vol. 59, no. 2, 2025, pp. 222–47, doi:10.3366/cost.2025.0343, doi:10.3366/cost.2025.0343.
Dr. Marta Franceschini wrote a review on the 'M&Others: Fashion & Motherhood' expo in Modemuseum Hasselt, curated by Revers-members Karen Van Godtsenhoven and Eve Demoen: Marta Franceschini, "M&Others: Fashion and Motherhood,"
Fashion Theory (2025), DOI: 10.1080/1362704X.2025.2506275.
Dries Debackere, “Domestic Kashmir: Forming and Performing Feminine Identities through Repurposed Kashmir Shawls in Late Nineteenth-Century French and Belgian Homes,” Dress, March 2025, pp. 1–18, doi:10.1080/03612112.2025.2468085.
Romy Cockx, Robin Schuldenfrei, Lara Steinhäußer et.al. Fashion & Interiors – A Gendered Affair. Hannibal Books, 2025. With essays by Revers members Dries Debackere and Wim Mertens.
New book review by Maude Bass-Krueger: Maude Bass-Krueger, “Susan Hiner, Behind the Seams: Women, Fashion, and Work in 19th-Century France.” Fashion Theory, February 2025, pp. 1–7, doi:10.1080/1362704X.2025.2466954.
Eve Demoen and Karen Van Godtsenhoven (eds.). M&others: Fashion and Motherhood. Tielt: Lannoo, 2024. With essays by Revers members Dries Debackere (“Modieus zwanger in de late negentiende eeuw/Fashionably pregnant in the late nineteenth century”) and Karen Van Godtsenhoven ("Moeder-dochtertransmissie in modeontwerp: Jeanne Lanvin en Sonia Rykiel/Mother-daughter transmission in the work of Jeanne Lanvin and Sonia Rykiel)”.

Ongoing Projects

Acquisition of key books in fashion studies at Ghent University Library
Creation of a “fashion shelf” at the library to draw together books from disparate stacks
Coordination with KASK on databases for fashion studies
Purchase of Berg Fashion Central by Faculty – active December 1, 2020
Purchase of journals Fashion Theory and Fashion Practice

Past news & events

2025/2026

27 January 2026: Pauline Devriese presented her PhD research at the University of Leiden at the conference “The Poetics of Olfaction, 1500-1800”.
January 2026: FWO postdoc mandate for Aurélie Van der Peer (KULeuven - affiliated researcher UGent): we are thrilled for our colleague Aurélie Van der Peer, who has been awarded a second FWO postdoc within the project “Practising the good life in clothes: Youth and sustainable fashion at school”. Joke Vandenabeele (KULeuven) and Giselinde Kuipers (KULeuven) are the project’s PIs.
27 November 2025: Rococo Rebout Study Day: a day of immersive talks, tours, and hands-on activities exploring the many facets of the Rococo Reboot exhibition at Modemuseum Hasselt. From 18th-century beauty rituals to scenography, music, and innovative curatorial approaches, this study day offers fresh perspectives on Rococo aesthetics and museum practice. With curator Eve Demoen, conservator Pauline Devriese, collection assistant Anne-Marie Geerts, and Laura Fitzachary. Register here.
21 November 2025: book launch 'Dirty Looks: Desire and Decay in Fashion’ with Karen Van Godtsenhoven at Tique, Antwerp. More info here.
17 November 2025: Guest Lecture ‘Josephine Baker, Salome and the Courtesans of Kitao’ by Dr. Tolulope Onabolu (Lecturer in Architecture, School of Architecture Planning and Landscape, Newcastle University)— 17 November 2025, 13:00–14:15, Ghent University, Auditorium 5, Dunantlaan 1, during Prof. Maude Bass-Krueger’s Fashion and Textile class.

13—14 November 2025: Excursion to London. Together with our members, we will visit:

- ‘Dirty Looks. Desire and Decay in Fashion’ (25 Sep 2025 — 25 Jan 2026), at the Barbican, curated by Revers-member Karen Van Godtsenhoven

- The ‘Marie Antoinette Style’ exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum

- The open-access museum depot at the V & A East Storehouse

25 September 2025: opening of ‘Dirty Looks. Desire and Decay in Fashion’ (25 Sep 2025 — 25 Jan 2026), at the Barbican, curated by Revers-member Karen Van Godtsenhoven. The exhibition already received multiple rave reviews: Wallpaper, The Guardian and The Standard.
20 September 2025: lecture by Revers member Nele Bernheim during the 2025 Heritage Days in Brussels, dedicated to the theme Art Deco. Her richly illustrated lecture, “Norine Couture: The embodiment of the Brussels avant-garde, c. 1915-1952", highlighted the story of this extraordinary couture house.

2024/2025

27–28 June 2025: “New Work in Feminist and Queer Fashion Studies” Conference, The University of British Columbia, Okanagan

Karen Van Godtsenhoven gave a lecture titled “Rei Kawakubo: Feminist Postcolonial Fashion” at the “New Work in Feminist and Queer Fashion Studies” Conference by Prof. Dr. Ilya Parkins at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan.
22—24 May 2025: Exhibition "Loose Threads: Colonialism, Modernity and Personal Histories in Belgian Fashion, 1830–1920". This exhibition presented the research of eleven MA students from the Department of Art History, Musicology, and Theatre Studies at Ghent University, under the supervision of Prof. dr. Maude Bass-Krueger. Over the course of the semester, the students researched eight garments bearing Belgian labels from the collection of the Royal Museums of Art & History. Dating from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, these garments offer insight into fashion history, personal narratives, and Belgian cultural heritage. The research explores themes including colonialism, life stages, world fairs, Art Nouveau, material culture, modernity, and the pursuit of fashionability. The students’ work will also be featured on www.fashioningbelgium.com, as part of a broader research project on Belgian fashion history (1830–1980) led by Prof. dr. Maude Bass-Krueger through the Revers research group.
23 May 2025: Workshop "Emotional Labour in Fashion and the Arts', convened by Prof. Dr. Ilya Parkins (University of British Columbia) and Dr. Karen van Godtsenhoven (Ghent University), with contributions by Dr. Apolline Malevez (Ghent University) and Dr. Annelies Van Assche (Ghent University).
14–16 May 2025: Prof. dr. Maude Bass-Krueger and Prof. dr. Liza Foley contributed to the "Disguise and Deception: New Perspectives on Human and Non-Human Camouflage and Mimicry" conference at the Department of Art History and King's College, Cambridge with lectures titled "Becoming Animal: Travestissement and Anxiety at the Bal des bêtes" (Maude Bass-Krueger) and "Surface Tensions: Animal Bodies, Human Artifice, and Polite Performance" (Liza Foley).
6 April 2025: Talk by Revers co-director Karen Van Godtsenhoven about the M&Others exhibition (Modemuseum Hasselt) at De Delicate Revolutie #2: Kunst en Ouderschap, organised by KAAP & De Republiek at the KORF in Bruges. Together with singer Charlotte Adigéry and moderator Heleen Debruyne, she discussed the interplay between art and parenthood.
4 April 2025: Opening of the ‘Rococo Reboot!: Fashion 1750–1830’ exhibition at Modemuseum Hasselt, curated by Revers-member Pauline Devriese.
12 March 2025: Visit to the Punk Special Collection and the Ballet Russes Special Collection from the FATE® Fashion And Textiles Education archive resource at MoMu Library.
9 December 2024: “M&Others” symposium by Revers and Modemuseum Hasselt, in conjunction with the book launch of the exhibition catalogue by Lannoo.
30 November 2024: Talks by Karen Van Godtsenhoven (“Libido Creandi: de poëtica van Sonia Rykiel”) and Nicola Brajato (“Who is The Subject of Men’s Fashion”) at the “De kleren van de keizer” symposium on fashion and psychoanalysis.
28 October 2024: Guided tour of the “M&Others” exhibition (Modemuseum Hasselt) by curators and Revers members Eve Demoen and Karen Van Godtsenhoven, with object-based perspectives by conservator Pauline Devriese.
21 October 2024: Global Fashioning Assembly “Not in Vogue: Decentering Fashion Narratives in Belgium” organised by the Research Collective for Decoloniality & Fashion with participation of several Revers members.
9 and 10 September 2024: Networking session in Belgium by ICOM Costume, which included guided tours of the Jules François Crahay exhibition and the Lace room at the Brussels Fashion & Lace Museum and the “M&Others” exhibition at the Modemuseum in Hasselt.
September 2024: PhD-defence by Marius Janusauskas: Fashionable and Transgressive: Queer Style and Masculinities in Contemporary Indian Fashion.
September 2024: new appointment of our colleague Catherine Powell-Warren as Professor in the Art History department at KU Leuven, where she will be taking over the class on Fashion History.

2023/2024

22 June 2024: Talk by curators Karen Van Godtsenhoven and Eve Demoen on the exhibition “M&Others” at the Online Museum Research Day by Acorso
20 and 21 June 2024: Talk by Dries Debackere on the reuse of Kashmir shawls in interior gowns and decoration at the “Intertwined Textiles: The Influence of Asian Fabrics in the European Cloth Industry (ca. 1200-1900)” conference in the Fundação Oriente — Museu do Oriente in Lisbon.
14 June 2024: Opening of the exhibition “M&Others” at Modemuseum Hasselt, curated by Revers members Karen Van Godtsenhoven and Eve Demoen.
23 May 2024: Opening of the exhibition “Norine (Un)Covered: A Story of the Brussels Couture House as Pictured in the Press, 1922–1951" by Art History Master students under the supervision of Nele Bernheim at the Vandenhove Pavilion in Ghent.
25–29 March 2024: Fibre Art Workshops for the 2024 edition of ‘De Schone week’ for Art History Students at Ghent University.
19 February 2024: Behind-the-scenes look at the making of the exhibition ‘Women Dressing Women’ with Karen Van Godtsenhoven and Judith Clark at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
7 December 2023: Opening of the exhibition “Women Dressing Women” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, co-curated by Karen Van Godtsenhoven.
27 November 2023: Lecture by Khémais Ben Lakhdar, doctoral researcher at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, on decolonising the histories of French couture.
17 November 2023: Visit to the Exhibition “Echo: Wrapped in Memory” at MoMu Antwerp.
13 November 2023: Lecture by curator Alexandra Bosc on the exhibition L'Étoffe des Flamands, which focuses on fashion in Flanders during the 17th century.
21 September 2023: Opening of the exhibition “Fashioning Queer Masculinities in India” by PhD candidate and Revers member Marius Janusauskas at the Vandenhove Centre in Ghent.

2022/2023: Materials and Materiality

9 June 2023: Talks by Revers members Prof. Maude Bass-Krueger, Karen Van Godtsenhoven and Nicola Brajato at the workshop “New Directions in Queer and Feminist Fashion Studies” at the City University London
25 May 2023: Sociology of Fashion Panel at Ghent University by Revers member Aurelie Van de Peer and Giselinde Kuipers.
11 May 2023: Revers @ IFM Paris / “Chanel et le 19M - Chair in Fashion Savoir-Faire". In collaboration with Emilie Hammen (Chair in Fashion Savoir-Faire at the IFM). Revers organised a session in Paris with Olivier Theyskens and Wim Mertens (MoMu) on craftsmanship and Belgian fashion.
09–12 May 2023: Exhibition on Belgian fashion before 1980 by the students of the MA seminar ‘Fashioning Belgium’ at the Vandenhove Centre in Ghent.
26 April 2023: Lecture by MoMu conservator-restorer Kim Verkens on a selection of sequined and beaded dresses from the 1920s-30s, which she restored for the upcoming exhibition Man Ray and Fashion.
30 March 2023: Talk by Ellen Sampson on her practice-based approach to research and the power of worn garments.
15 December 2022: Guided tour with curator Yoon Hee Lamot of Mirror Mirror, Fashion & the Psyche, an exhibition organised by MoMu and the Museum Dr. Guislain in Ghent.
8 November 2022: Revers member Marius Janusauskas will introduce the movie McQueen at the Sphinx Cinema in Ghent, as part of the collaborative programming with the Dr. Guislain museum for the exhibition Mirror Mirror - Fashion & the Psyche.
8 November 2022: Lecture by Professor Ilya Parkins on “Besuited Belonging: Theorizing Recognition for Queer and Trans Wedding Suit Wearers” at the Vandenhove Centre.
19 October 2022: Seminar Series III: Materiality — Seminar on Hidden Belgian collections with Frieda Sorber on Congolese garments and accessories at the AfricaMuseum and Klara De Maeseneir on the textile collections of a Gentian béguinage

2021/2022: Gender

20 May 2022: Revers no. 3 on Gender and Decoloniality with Angela Jansen, Marius Janusauskas, Sofie Verclyte and Marie Kympers at the Ghent University Museum
23 March 2022: Revers no. 2 on Women Makers with Nele Bernheim, Karolien De Clippel, Lizzy Rys, and Martha Verleyen at the Vandenhove Centre in Ghent
17/18 March 2022: Ghent University and Université de Lille joint conference “Des Territoires de la Mode? France du Nord et Belgique XVE – XXE S” at the Université de Lille.
12 March 2022: private tour with artist Lucy McKenzie of the “Building in Belgium, Buildings in Oil, Buildings in Silk” exhibition at La Verrière
2 February 2022: Talks by Karen Van Godtsenhoven (Azzedine Alaïa's paper patterns as seen by Thomas Demand in his Model Studies) and Prof. Maude Bass-Krueger (Simultanism in Sonia Delaunay’s fashion and architecture) at the Sartoria’s conference on architecture, garments and fashion in Paris
15 December 2021: Talks by Revers members Aurélie Van de Peer and Karen Van Godtsenhoven, together with make-up artist Sabine Peeters, entrepreneur Caroline Baeten, journalist Sarah Vandoorne and HNST sustainability manager Eva Engelen about drawing your own boundaries in the fashion system at Curieus vzw in Antwerp
10 December 2021: FWO presentations by Pauline Devriese, Maarten Saelaert, and Karen Van Godtsenhoven with ThIS researchers
17 November 2021: Launch of Revers and Revers no. 1 with talks by Nicola Brajato, "Queering Masculinities", and Denis Laurent, "Masculinities: Exhibition" at the Vandenhove Centre in Ghent.
11 November 2021: Tour of the “Brussels Touch” exhibition at the Fashion & Lace Museum in Brussels
4 November 2021: Leçon de Mode N°25: “Beyond Black: The Story of an Exhibition” by Karen Van Godtsenhoven at the Fashion & Lace Museum in Brussels. Relisten online here.
Fall 2021: Founding of Revers — Belgian Fashion Research Network by Professor Maude Bass-Krueger and Karen Van Godtsenhoven

About

Revers is a Belgian interdisciplinary network for research in fashion, textiles, and dress. It aims to connect and unite Belgian-based researchers, students and professionals in order to share research outputs, skills, and knowledge resources. Revers hopes to strengthen national collaboration and foster critical interdisciplinary inquiry. The network fosters thematic research seminars, symposia, joint research projects and publications.

Based at Ghent University, Revers is led by Professor Maude Bass-Krueger, with support from doctoral students Karen Van Godtsenhoven, Nele Bernheim, Dries Debackere, Lizzy Rys, and Pauline Devriese. Doctoral candidate Elena Vanden Abeele is in charge of Revers’ coordination and communication.