A white shirt collar held closed, against a dark studio wall
  • The Long Coat Report Six shapes worth the hem
  • Tailoring, Undone On borrowing a man's jacket
  • Everything Borrowed A rail from other people's wardrobes
No. 12

Clothes, put in the right order.

Styling & creative direction
Antwerp & Paris
Working since 2015

Contents

  1. 01 The Letter Eleven years, one rail, and what stays on it
  2. 02 The Stories Editorials, campaigns and lookbooks
  3. 03 Commissions What I take on, and how a booking runs
  4. 04 Published Where the work has run
  5. 05 Contact Dates, rates and the rail
A rail of coats and a hat stand in the studio
The rail at Kloosterstraat, the night before a shoot.

The letter

Nadia Kessler photographed in the studio
Photographed at the studio, Kloosterstraat, February.

Dear reader,

I have been dressing other people for eleven years and I still begin every job the same way: an empty rail, a bare room, and one afternoon to take almost everything off it again. What survives that afternoon is the shoot.

Most of what I bring is borrowed, repaired or bought second-hand. A jacket that has already been worn by someone knows how to sit; a new one has to be argued with. I keep a card index of every piece I have ever borrowed - four thousand entries, and I can still tell you which coat came back with a missing button.

I work between Antwerp and Paris, mostly on editorial and campaign, and I take three or four private clients a year. I press everything myself the night before. It is the only part of the job nobody wants and the only part that shows in the picture.

Nadia Kessler Stylist and creative director, Antwerp

The stories

All stories

A good look is mostly subtraction. I bring forty pieces to a shoot so that I can take thirty-seven of them away again.

Nadia Kessler, in conversation with Nord Magazine

Commissions

Rates on request. Most editorial books three to six weeks ahead; campaigns, a season.

Editorial styling

Editorial

I build the rail, run the fittings and stay on set until the last frame. Magazines, supplements and independent titles, three to eight looks a day.

Campaign and lookbook

Campaign

Season-long work with brands: casting notes, look boards, sourcing, and a shot list that survives contact with a real studio day.

Wardrobe and personal styling

Wardrobe

Three or four private clients a year. We cut the wardrobe in half, repair what is worth repairing, and buy about six things.

Creative direction

Direction

Where the styling is the idea: I bring the photographer, the hair and make-up, the location and the running order, and hand back the edit.

Where the work has run

2026 The Long Coat Report, eight pages Nord Magazine
2025 Tailoring, Undone - spring portfolio Bruxelles Papier
2025 Styling award, editorial category Belgian Fashion Prize
2024 A wardrobe in forty pieces The Linen Review
2024 On borrowing: sourcing without buying Antwerp Academy, guest lecture
2023 Rail - twelve looks and their receipts Studio Nine, Antwerp

Word of mouth

Photo of Elke Vandevelde Elke Vandevelde Photographer, Antwerp
Nadia arrives with four rails and leaves with one. By the time I have the light where I want it the look is already decided, and nobody has said a word about it.
Photo of Tomas Brandt Tomas Brandt Brand director, Halden Studio
We gave her a season, a budget that was too small and a factory sample that fitted nobody. The campaign ran for eighteen months and we are still selling the coat.
Photo of Marieke de Groot Marieke de Groot Private client, Ghent
I owned four hundred things and wore nine of them. She made me try on every single piece over two days, and I have not bought anything I regret since.

Write to me

Dates, rates and the rail. Tell me the shoot, the days and roughly what it is for.

The quickest way to reach me is a plain email. Tell me what the shoot is, which days you are holding, and roughly where it will end up.

[email protected]
  • Studio Kloosterstraat 108, 2000 Antwerp
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About the project