Brussels Chic

I took advantage of the few days that I was at my parents’ house in Brussels to check my favorite places in the city, and let me tell you, it is still eternally chic!

If there are two things “Bruxellosis” like among sober elegant interior design, these are flowers and chocolate.My mother acknowledgement of the joellelifestyle blog made her secretly source, store and prepare information about the city that she knew eventually I would instinctively pan myself and post on the lifestyle. So suddenly, like a coincidence, she asks me if I would be interested in an interview with the famous chocolatier Pierre Marcolini as he is one of the national icons, or if I would like to check the new interior galley space at the Sablon square by the famous French company called Flamant with a prestigious art bookstore, a cafe and new flower shop, or maybe I had not heard that in Brussels there is a new neighborhood in the style of Soho in New York called Saint-Gery where trendy shops, real estate and new cafes and lounges are opening everyday at an amazing speed.

With all these information, my mother is trying to tell me in a subtle and obviously we all know disinterested way, that I have been missing a lot since the last time I was in Brussels and that there was a lot to catch up if I wanted to do a good job in my blog; maintenance of all this info would at least bring me back to the city more often if I did not want to miss the action over there, “ after all, Joelle” – she’d say – ”don’t forget you are still in EUROPE!

People in Brussels breathe the word ART and design. The whole city built at the beginning of the century is in the style called Art Nouveau; florists are considered, like fashion and interior designers, important celebrities, more than celebrities themselves (in Belgium celebrities are not from the world of entertainment but members of Royalty and high society).
Secular elegance is symbol of status, the art of receiving, and the way a table is set, called in French “l’art de la table,” are concept of major importance of the city mentality.

So here I am with my mother as a guide and my father as a driver exploring the different facets of one of the most eligible 1900 European cities and architectural masterpieces of its kind.
At the Sablon, the most characteristic square of Brussels, where on weekends you can stroll to one of the oldest flee markets of Europe, you find towards the end of it patisseries stores among which quiches are exhibited like jewelry on the windows. The flagship of the famous food designer Pierre MarcolinI, a three-floor store with its interior as sober as black and beige can be is found in one of the oldest buildings of town.

Not far from there you can just go for a tour to one of my favorite flower designers in the world acclaimed so since 1880, the Flemish Daniel Ost. Met him at my sister’s wedding when he transformed the oldest synagogue of Brussels into a white garden. Daniel was not there, “at the moment he is on a job in Venice decorating the Palazzo Grassi opening party (recently aquired by French art collector and owner of the auction house Chriestie’s Francois Pinault, from the Agnelli family owners of Fiat to host his private art collection) says his assistant says to me “ but feel free to look around.”

At the Saint Gery neighborhood we catch a glimpse of the famous Belgian designer store responsible for the queen wardrobe and many other royalty members, Natan Edouard Vermeullen where very politely I get an answer while I am being checked out with an inspective style look from head to toes that -Yes I can take pictures of their store …”. Mais on fait pas ca“ kind of attitude, what he means is WE don’t do on line internet, we dress the royalty “Bon Sang! “ (good God).

We finally have a tea at the Halles Saint Gery cafeteria, a 1881 work of architecture of A.Vandergheggen of steel reflecting an example of Flemish neo- renaissance style for a former market (like the trendy Spice Market in NY).

Chocolate, tea, flowers, antiques, family and royalty —I am almost ready to move on onto my Gypsy trail.