Opened on New York's Lower East Side, Le Sous Sol ("basement" in French) is the first American store to exclusively carry Belgian designers, with a strong emphasis on the next generation of talents, many of whom are not sold anywhere else in the US. Le Sous Sol has the largest collection of A.F Vandervorst in the country, but it is mostly concentrating on new designers like Jean Paul Knott, Brussels-based designer Eric Beaudouin who makes beautiful, one of a kind bags from vintage leather jackets, and Nathalie Verlinden who's a shoe designer fom Antwerp.

Le Sous Sol is owned by French algerian sisters Linda and Sarah Belkebir, who chose to focus on new Belgian designers because they felt their work was underrepresented in the US. Linda –a fashion stylist for 15 years– makes regular trips to Antwerp and Brussels to meet designers, hand pick the pieces which will be in the store and visit the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts to scout for future talent. The store (which is on the same Manhattan block as Keith Mc Nally's Schiller's) is a minimal, sparely decorated space which calls to mind a gallery as much as a boutique.

Twenty years after the Antwerp six made fashion headlines around the world, Le Sous Sol is pushing the next wave of Belgian talent.

STORE HOURS:
TUES-SAT 1-9PM
SUN 1-8PM
CLOSED MONDAYS