Dear ChangeFashion,

I am very happy to announce a new book by make-up artist Inge Grognard and photographer Ronald Stoops.

The book is an anthology of over 30 years of collaboration, with emphasis on their non-commercial work, including projects with other like-minded people such as Narcisse Tordoir, Martin Margiela, A.F. Vandevorst, Jurgi Persoons and Andrea Cammarosano.

Sputnik Magazine 1998

Belgian beauty, (B)eople Magazine 2001

Jurgi Persoons A/W 1998-99, Antwerp March 1998

Inge and Ronald started their careers in the early 1980s, coinciding with the international breakthrough of Belgian fashion. In their early years they made valuable contributions to the imagery of Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, Walter Van Beirendonck, Dirk Van Saene and Martin Margiela amongst others. The second generation of Belgian designers including Raf Simons, Veronique Branquinho, A.F. Vandevorst and Jurgi Persoons have also found Grognard and Stoops’ strong visual language invaluable.

Next to the fantastic imagery in the book I also love the introduction by Kaat Debo, director of the MoMu Fashion Museum, who wrote a very nice passage defining the work and also personality of Inge and Ronald:

“This book starts and ends with a scream”, Inge Grognard confides to me at the beginning of our conversation. The images Inge is referring to are a black-an-white photo of Kristina -one of Martin Margiela’s house models- with her two brothers, and a colour photo of two of Inge’s cats.

Hallway at a friend’s studio in Antwerp, showing a selection of imagery from Inge & Ronald

“The scream symbolizes how Ronald and I communicate. To outsiders the way we work together must come across as very harsh. We tend to yell at each other a lot and discussions can easily get out of hand.” Later Inge tells me she deliberately seeks this tension and it clearly shows in their collective work. The images mentionned above embrace the rest of the book and joilt you with a shock to an oeuvre that balances between the brutal -often to the point of aggressive- with the fragile.

Inge grognard/Ronald Stoops is available in bookstores at the end of October 2010.

Published by Ludion, ISBN 978-90-5544-984-2, €39,90