JasminaTV and David spotlight a designer turning blankets into skirts and “parquet floors” into dresses

JasminaTV and David are among the most beloved hunters of vintage gems. Fashion enthusiasts, connoisseurs, and experts, explore fabrics, test heels, and try on different cuts across vintage shops in Los Angeles. Now, they are launching their column for Vogue Adria with a series of conversations with insiders of the fashion industry. Their first guest is none other than Julie Kegels, the Belgian visionary who turns the everyday into poetry.

Fashion is loud right now, but Julie Kegels is a unique voice within the chaos! Kegels is a Belgian designer trained at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts who launched her eponymous label in 2024 and debuted in Paris during FW24-25. Her work fuses domestic ritual and everyday detail with uncanny, surreal moments…stitching the banal to the bizarre to create garments that feel like intimate fragments of a diary. Over Zoom, LA to Antwerp, we talked about intentional contradiction, the terror of fashion school and the little nightly habits that keep her grounded to reality. 

JasminaTV: This is our very first interview for this column and we couldn’t have wished for a better guest! You are someone that is so refreshing in fashion and a total rising star… we are so excited to speak to you!

David: Why don’t we start with an origin story! What got you into fashion to begin with?

Julie Kegels: I always wanted to go into fashion, since I was little, probably since I was five years old. And I remember that for school, if we had to do presentations, mine was always about iconic, historical designers, like Gabriel Chanel, Poiret, or Madame Grès. I was very interested and intrigued by them, about their lifestyle, what they were creating, and how they wanted to translate their ideas into garments.My parents actually introduced me to the Antwerp Six because I was born in Antwerp. I went to the library to research who they were as a very young kid. From that moment, it was really my dream to go to the Royal Academy.

JasminaTV: Your family sounds very supportive of the arts.

Julie: My father is very passionate about history. He always had an obsession about it… Romans, Greeks, the Middle Ages… In the evening at dinner, he was always telling us about these people like they were his friends. I’m happy because it was really not about fashion, it was really about culture and history. My mother was very interested in modern arts at the same time, so she was pushing me to visit a lot of exhibitions. They always told me, “If you want to go to the Royal Academy after high school, you have to know everything.”

JasminaTV: What is the entrance exam to get into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp?

Julie:  First we have a conversation. I think they look a bit at your aura. You bring a portfolio with a lot of sketches, a lot of ideas… it can be a bottle with Fanta in it. They actually really prefer that you don’t focus on fashion because they really want to teach you everything and ensure you’re not stuck in a frame. After the conversation, you leave your work somewhere in a room, so you don’t even show it. And then you have to do two days, it’s like a marathon of drawing. One day is drawing a model in a free, abstract way. And then one day is still life, really in a technical way so that you can really be realistic and show that you have technique in drawing.

JasminaTV: Wow I’m glad we went to fashion school in America where the standards are lower lol!

David: What are your thoughts on what the school prepared you for, versus what you didn’t expect now that you’re running your business?

Julie: You don’t get anything from the business side, nothing. They really focus on the creative parts, art philosophy, and art history. At first I thought it was a pity because what are you going to do if you start a brand? But on the other side, it’s very nice because you can go very deep in the creative process. The first year is a terror year. It’s horrible. You don’t know anything. The teachers really push you in an honest way. They have a weird talent to see that. They’re really like, “Oh, it’s bad,” but you already feel a bit bad about it, so then you’re like, “Oh yeah, actually I was lying to myself because this was really not me.” They really guide you to find yourself.

David: We read you spent some time at Alaïa.

Julie: Yes, Alaïa was for a year, an internship. Before that, I did a very short internship at Meryll Rogge. Then I had this internship at Alaïa where I moved straight away to Paris. It was four years ago, so it was a very small company actually at that time. I could really see a lot of different departments, which was very interesting. I started to really think about it, and it was always my dream to have my own company to be free and to really tell my story or ideas through clothes.

JasminaTV: After looking at all your collections we felt like the woman you’re designing for is so feminine but she’s kind of off. Something’s wrong. And if she walks past you really fast you might even miss that something is off… but if you take a closer look, it’s like she’s not perfect. I feel like that is me… I’m a diva but I’m off lol!

David: If you stay off you don’t have to go off!

Julie: I’m very inspired by very daily things in life, going to the supermarket and hearing conversations of people talking to each other… mixed with something very fantasy-ish. It’s very realistic, but also something dreamy on the other side. It looks like a simple shirt, but if you look at it twice, it’s a little joke.

JasminaTV: Wow you’re designing so many categories! It’s not just ready to wear but shoes, socks, eyewear, bags…

David: Very comprehensive! Are there any other categories that you’d be interested in expanding into that you haven’t already?

Julie: From the “Dress Code” collection, we made a chair…an actual chair. It was featured in the runway show as part of the set design. After that we got a lot of requests like, “Oh, are you selling this chair?” We actually sold six. The idea behind making the chair was kind of an inside joke where all these elements from iconic chairs from history are put together in a mix. If someone sees that chair they may say, “Oh yeah, I know it’s a designer chair.” But then you’re like, “Ah, no, no, no. You have to look a bit better because it’s a non-existing chair.”

JasminaTV: I love the “Dress Code” collection… the cushion pillow purses and blanket skirts and dresses relate so well to the “Night” theme of this issue. It feels very cozy and homey.. Can you tell us about the inspiration for that collection?

Julie: That was really the inspiration from a book “Executive Style” by Judith Price. I actually found it at a flea market in LA. It’s about what combination you have to have in your interior to become successful. So it’s like you have to have this wood combined with this carpet, combined with this curtain. I found it very interesting… that good taste gives you the image of being successful. I was imagining… if the woman wears it and blends in the interior, she’s just successful.

JasminaTV: Dress for success!

David: What about the after hours…what do you typically do at night?

Julie: When I come home, I cook or my boyfriend cooks, and then I sit on the couch and I watch movies. I really love to watch movies, like every evening… even when I’m going to sleep, I put a movie on. Also a lot of skincare, of course.

David: What are some movies you watch?

Julie: I just saw Vanilla Sky…it’s such a classic. Yesterday I also watched  Belle de Jour. It’s a very old French movie. I thought, “Oh my God, it’s going to be slow.” But then it was such a weird movie that I was really fascinated and I couldn’t stop watching.

JasminaTV: I will have to put Belle de Jour on my list. I don’t think I have ever seen it. I love Catherine Deneuve!

David: We just watched Dangerous Liaisons with Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer, and John Malkovich. It’s fashion, glamour, and sex!

JasminaTV: That got us into John Malkovich and now we are only watching John Malkovich movies haha. Being John Malkovich is another favorite!

Julie: Oh I need to write that down!

JasminaTV: We can talk about movies all day long! We love movies! Haha but let’s get back to fashion.

David: Is there a teaser you can give us for the next collection…what are you working on?

Julie: It’s so in the beginning stages. All I can say is that it’s about how you present yourself to the outside world and how you really are on the inside are a bit different.

David: Like what we show the world versus like our private self?

Julie: Pretending maybe.

David: We love a mystery!

JasminaTV: Can’t wait to see what’s next!