IN THE FRAME:

BERNADETTE

Their silk dresses transcend generations. Meet the design duo

behind the breakout brand from Antwerp.

by Rachel Hodin

The idea of starting a business with your mother or daughter may sound like a minefield to some, but for Bernadette and Charlotte De Geyter, it was a no-brainer.

At the heart of Bernadette, the Belgian duo’s Antwerp-based label, is their medium of choice: silk. Inviting and endlessly comfortable, the fabric tends to inspire feelings of warmth and intimacy—a spirit that happens to define not only the brand, but the mother-daughter duo’s tight-knit, indelible bond as well.

With over two decades between them, the duo naturally cater to a wide range of ages—something which has earned them a multi-generational following of women with far-ranging styles. One fan? Lisa Armstrong, the established fashion journalist and head of The Daily Telegraph’s print and digital fashion team. While lounging in Selfridges, they spotted her in their “shocking pink” dress. “She layered it with a big knit, which was really nice to see,” Bernadette remembers. “Because there are so many ways to wear [each piece].”

While interning for Simone Rocha in 2016, Charlotte witnessed first-hand the fruitful working relationship between family members (Simone works alongside her father, the designer John Rocha, and her mother, designer Odette Rocha). As soon as she left, she decided to try it for herself—by November 2018, Charlotte and her mother had launched Bernadette with a capsule of dresses and separates. “We really want to make a product that can be worn by mothers and daughters,” Charlotte says. “The fact that we’re a mother and daughter team is the brand’s biggest source of power.”

Luxury fabrics form the bedrock of the label, but the vibrant colors and unique prints are what bring Bernadette’s designs to life. The latter is developed in-house by Charlotte, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, who likes to leaf through books of botanical paintings for inspiration. When that’s not enough, she and her mother take refuge in Mont-roig del Camp, a small village south of Barcelona where Bernadette’s parents have a home and which Bernadette and Charlotte grew up visiting regularly. “Joan Miró lived there his entire life, so it’s a special small village, with the sea on one side and the mountains on the other,” Bernadette says. “There’s really nothing to do there,” adds Charlotte. “But that’s the amazing thing about it.”