CHRISTIAN WIJNANTS www.christianwijnants.be Born in Brussels in 1977, Christian Wijnants moved to Antwerp in 1996 to study fashion design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. After graduating in 2000, he won the Grand Prix at the International Fashion and Photography Festival in Hyères and began selling his collection in stores like Colette in Paris, Pineal Eye in London, Via Bus Stop in Tokyo, and Henri Bendel in New York. After working as a creative assistant for Dries Van Noten in Antwerp and Angelo Tarlazzi in Paris, he launched his own label in 2003, with which he has received such prestigious acknowledgements as the 2005 Swiss Textiles Award and the ANDAM Prize ­ presented by the Yves Saint Laurent Foundation ­ in 2006. Wijnants presents his collections twice a year during Paris Fashion Week. His clothing is manufactured in Belgium and is sold in exclusive stores around the world: Le Bon Marché and Maria Luisa in Paris, Mameg in Los Angeles, IT in Hong Kong, United Arrows in Tokyo, Belinda in Sydney, and Podium in Moscow. Christian Wijnants has also been teaching at the Royal Academy in Antwerp since 2005.