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The Antwerp Luxury Shopping Experience
Iconic, Heritage, Quiet Luxury & Creative Culture
Discover the Antwerp luxury shopping experience. Five centuries ago Antwerp’s guilds laid down Europe’s gold standards for craft; today the same city folds world‑class fashion, glittering diamonds and contemporary art into one walkable centre. Renaissance façades rub shoulders with avant‑garde boutiques, while a 19th‑century rail hall still moves eighty per cent of the planet’s rough stones. Whether you have just chosen a perfect Antwerp‑cut diamond at Ajediam or you are plotting a gallery afternoon south of the river, use this guide to navigate the addresses where the city’s reputation shines brightest.
Belgian Heritage Couture & Leather Goods
Belgium may be small on the map, yet its ateliers punch far above their weight: from royal court couturiers to the avant-garde graduates who re-shaped Paris runways. This section gathers the maisons whose histories—and meticulous in-house workshops—still define Antwerp’s very diverse sartorial DNA.
Natan Couture
Founded in 1930 by couturier Paul Natan and revived in 1983 by Édouard Vermeulen, the house has become the court dressmaker of choice: Queen Mathilde, Queen Máxima, Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa all favour its restrained tailoring and jewel-tone evening coats.
Huidevettersstraat 44
www.natan.be
Delvaux
Delvaux was established in Brussels in 1829, making it the world’s oldest fine‑leather house; though now owned by a Hong‑Kong group its Antwerp salon still displays the Brillant and Tempête bags like architectural models, each stamped with the craftsperson’s initials.
Komedieplaats 17
www.delvaux.com
Dries Van Noten
Dries Van Noten installed his flagship and studio inside Het Modepaleis, a listed 1881 department store whose curved windows and tiled floors remain intact. Five floors of vivid embroidery and jewel‑toned tailoring illustrate why the Antwerp Six designer is still the city’s most famous export.
Nationalestraat 16
www.driesvannoten.com
Ann Demeulemeester
Ann Demeulemeester opened her cathedral‑like showroom opposite the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in 1999. Inside the 520‑square‑metre space rough wooden floors, iron columns and poetically monochrome silhouettes echo the Flemish masters across the square.
Leopold de Waelplaats 16
www.anndemeulemeester.com
Ganterie Boon
Ganterie Boon has fitted Antwerp’s hands since 1884. Still run by the founding family, the art‑deco glove shop retains original wooden counters and carries more than ten thousand pairs, from driving gloves to opera‑length suede, all just steps from Dries Van Noten’s Modepaleis.
Lombardenvest 2
www.glovesboon.be
Guy David Lambrechts
Guy David Lambrechts has spent decades cutting impeccably fitted suits for Antwerp’s most discerning men, working from an atelier where each pattern is drafted in dialogue with the client. Beyond tailoring, he guards what is widely considered the world’s largest private archive of antique cufflinks.
Mechelsesteenweg 20
www.guydavid.be
Antwerp Diamonds & Antique Jewels
Behind Central Station in a grid often called the Square Mile; there are four exchanges, two hundred cutters and more than 1 400 registered dealers channel about eighty per cent of the world’s rough stones, a spectacle best observed from Hoveniersstraat where couriers in numbered vests trot between guard posts under constant police watch.
Ajediam Exclusive Antwerp Diamonds
Ajediam welcomes clients by appointment only since 1982. Discover the discreet first and second‑floor diamond office where you will be able to view some of Antwerp’s most exclusive diamonds. Contact our team in advance or request a call-back from our experts to let them prepare a selection for your visit.
Hoveniersstraat 19
www.ajediam.com
Adin Antique Jewellery
Adin Antique Jewellery has operated from the Diamond District since 1983. Its window on Vestingstraat glitters with Georgian foiled earrings, Victorian serpent bracelets and platinum Art Deco engagement rings, all vetted by gemologist and jewelry history expert Elkan Wijnberg.
Vestingstraat 16
www.antiquejewel.com
Colman Luxury Watches
Colman Watches is still run by the family that first traded timepieces in Antwerp in 1456. Collectors sink into walnut-panelled banquettes while comparing Jaeger-LeCoultre Reversos and Rolex Oyster Perpetuals, all serviced on-site by master horologists in the glass-fronted workshop.
Eiermarkt 7
www.colman.be
Antwerp Ateliers
Ajediam’s in-house haute-joaillerie studio, where master goldsmiths, CAD designers and gem-setters craft everything from private one-off rings to white-label micro-collections without leaving the same Diamond District atelier. Book an appointment in advance to let our team prepare for your visit
Hoveniersstraat 19
www.ajediam.com
Art, Furniture and Auctions
Antwerp’s eye for beauty extends beyond clothes and jewels. Converted distilleries, monolithic pavilions and heritage warehouses showcase contemporary art, collectible design and serious auction blocks, making the city a magnet for curators and collectors alike.
Axel Vervoordt Gallery
Axel Vervoordt Gallery opened in 2011 and now anchors the designer‑dealer’s Kanaal complex, a converted 19th‑century distillery where minimalist sculptures by Anish Kapoor and James Turrell share vast brick silos with Gutai masters.
Stokerijstraat 19, Wijnegem
www.axel‑vervoordt.com
DRVD Antiques
Dirk De Roeck & Johan Van Dijck Antiques have spent more than thirty-five years sourcing Roman busts, Flemish tapestries and mid-century curios for Europe’s sharpest interior designers; their Kloosterstraat shop feels less like retail and more like a cabinet of wonders.
Kloosterstraat 69
instagram @drvd_antiques
Tim Van Laere Gallery
Tim Van Laere Gallery was founded in 1997 and, since 2019, occupies a monolithic concrete pavilion in the Nieuw Zuid district. Seven exhibitions a year spotlight artists such as Jonathan Meese and Ben Sledsens, making the gallery a bell‑wether for contemporary painting.
Jos Smolderenstraat 50
www.timvanlaeregallery.com
Zeno X Gallery
Zeno X Gallery shaped Belgian contemporary art from 1981 until closing its public space in 2023; behind closed doors the gallery still represents heavyweights like Luc Tuymans and Marlene Dumas, proving its influence endures even without a street‑level showroom.
Godtsstraat 15
www.zeno‑x.com
Bernaerts Auctioneers
Bernaerts evolved from a small antique shop into one of Belgium’s leading salerooms. Inside its south‑city warehouse fine art, silver and design objects go under the hammer, and in 2022 the house celebrated a record with Magritte’s “Oiseau de Ciel” for €3.8 million.
Verlatstraat 18
www.bernaerts.eu
St. Vincents
St. Vincents occupies a restored 18th‑century printing house whose skylights illuminate collectible furniture, niche Japanese incense and avant‑garde fashion. An espresso bar hidden between plinths invites visitors to linger.
Kleine Markt 13
www.stvincents.co
More Antwerp Luxury Fashion Shopping
Just a few blocks from the Diamond District, global flagships rub shoulders with multi-brand concept stores, offering everything from monogram trunks to runway-fresh sneakers—proof that Antwerp mixes big names with local flair better than any European neighbour.
Louis Vuitton
You know it already, Louis Vuitton began life in 1854 when a young French trunk‑maker revolutionised travel with his flat‑topped steamer case. The Antwerp flagship honours that spirit of motion with soaring skylights, a personalisation counter for luggage tags and a two‑storey library of City Guides.
Komedieplaats 14‑16
www.louisvuitton.com
Chanel
Chanel traces its origins to Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s Paris millinery in 1910, and the Schuttershofstraat boutique channels her modernist values under 19th‑century brick arches. Tweed jackets line mirrored walls, and a herringbone‑timbered alcove is devoted to Chanel fragrance.
Schuttershofstraat 12
www.chanel.com
Verso
Verso turned a 16th‑century bank mansion into a multi‑brand fashion theatre, complete with a marble rotunda and the original vault repurposed as a “sneaker safe”. Gucci, Prada and Saint Laurent share rails under stained‑glass domes. Take a fine dining break at the adjacent iconic Verso Café.
Lange Gasthuisstraat 9‑11
www.verso.com
Graanmarkt 13
Graanmarkt 13 opened in 2010 when Ilse Cornelissens and Tim Van Geloven renovated a 19th‑century townhouse with architect Vincent Van Duysen. Today the oak‑lined building houses a vegetable‑forward restaurant, a high‑edit fashion floor and a rooftop apartment that can be rented by the night.
Graanmarkt 13
www.graanmarkt13.com
The Short Way
The Short Way opened in 1987. Word-of-mouth about its meticulous bra-fittings, a mantra that “your body deserves only the best,” and a line-up of labels such as Eres, La Perla, Missoni and Marie Jo soon turned the boutique into Antwerp’s destination for luxury lingerie.
Mechelsesteenweg 29-31
www.theshortwayshop.be
Labellov
Labellov started in 2012 as a living‑room trunk show and now runs an elegant townhouse where pre-owend vintage Hermès, Chanel and Delvaux are authenticated, restored and re‑boxed with a twelve‑month guarantee, proving circular fashion can match first‑owner glamour.
Verlatstraat 15
www.labellov.com
Atelier Solarshop
Atelier Solarshop was born in 2008 by designer Jan‑Jan Van Essche and curator Piëtro Celestina. Hand‑loomed cashmeres and Japanese plant‑dyed linens mingle with one‑off antiques, making the space feel closer to a museum than a shop. A different more quiet kind of Antwerp luxury.
Dambruggestraat 48
www.ateliersolarshop.be
Departure Notes
Within a single afternoon Antwerp can take you from an extraordinary 10 carat fancy intense pink diamond to a James Turrell light piece or a Jacquard‑woven coat fresh off Dries Van Noten’s runway. Walk slowly, look closely and you will discover why this compact port city remains Europe’s most concentrated lesson in the power—and pleasure—of craft. We hope you enjoyed reading this article and to thank you for having read through it all here is a Google Map with all the addresses mentioned here that might be useful for you. If you are interested in buying a diamond during your stay in Antwerp we would be delighted to welcome you at our offices in the Diamond District of Antwerp. Please contact our team at care@ajediam.com to tell us what you are looking for.