I was initially drawn to Antwerp because of its Royal Academy of Fine Arts– why of all the great fashion schools in the world is Antwerp producing such exceptional talent?  I started with the premise: What is happening in Antwerp?

Unbeknownst to me, it was the perfect follow up to my 2015 Kenya Collection…

At the Red Star Museum in Antwerp, they followed migration since the beginning of humanity.  Starting from just around Kenya with findings of the earliest human remains, up into Europe, and through Antwerp across the Atlantic to New York City…  Like Antwerp’s fashion students, who are taught the confidence to stay true to their ideas season after season despite the current conversation in fashion, I approached our second collection with this resolve: to migrate my ideas forward, infused with the new references based on my own journeys and experiences…

What I found in Antwerp was my heritage: The confidence of an individual and the courage to create one’s own path is what I see reflected in the American Spirit, our American Spirit, and what defines the HANLEY brand…

-Nicole Hanley