The Structure of the Archive

The Dirk Bikkembergs Archive offers a detailed and structured overview of the creative process of the designer through the years. The archive structure has been carefully built and follows common conventions in the fashion industry. This means that the archive is divided into sub-archives per season, such as spring/summer (SS) and autumn/winter (AW). This categorisation reflects the seasonal nature of fashion collections and provides clear insight into the evolution of the designer’s work over time. Sketches, drawings, and final papers of study assignments during his academy years are divided into sub-archives per academic year. Additionally, there are also sub-archives per project or brand.

You can filter through the different sub-archives on the search page. Each sub-archive is characterised by themes and contains all archival documents relating to that particular sub-archive.

 

Naming of the sub-archives per season:

  • spring/summer = SS, followed by the full year, e.g. spring/summer 1998 = SS1998

  • autumn/winter = AW, followed by the abbreviated years, e.g. autumn/winter 2003/2004 = AW 03 04

Naming of the sub-archives per academic year:

  • academic year, followed by the abbreviated years, e.g. first academic year from September 1977 to June 1978 = ACA 77 78

Naming of the sub_archives per project/brand:

  • project = name of the project, possibly followed by the year, e.g. Gouden Spoel 1984

  • brand = name of the brand, followed by the fashion season, e.g. NERO 84 85