BrusselsLife with Françoise Pendville

School was the begining

It is in a school courtyard that she first found her inspiration source. Seamstress's daughter, Françoise Pendville will become a school teacher before starting a successful fashion career. While observing her pupils playing during a break, she imagines her first piece: a coated fabric anorak with a magnetic fastening that closes very easily. She then decides to take a maximum of training courses. She learns the essential of the technique but approaches the craft as a true artist, free of set teachings. She tackles fashion from an artistic stand point. She touches, crushes, sews, and soaks up the feel of the fabrics and the various materials before starting to sketch, then, to elaborate the pattern. Dismissing the peculiar transient aspect of fashion, Françoise Pendville dreams up timeless clothes with basic and flowing lines, and, with the raincoat builds up her label. Stéphanie Guillaume

Tof or not?

Your tof café? Mokafé, galerie de la Reine

Your tof restaurant? Fin de Siècle, rue de Chartreux

Your tof place for enjoying your evening? With friends or at Archiduc

Your tof place for enjoying your Sunday? Flea market in Woluwé or Place du Jeu de Balle

Your tof place for developing your culture capital? Tropismes Library or festivals

Your tof district in Brussels? Rue de Flandre

If you had to show Brussels off to a foreign friend, where would you take him first? The Grand Place, a jewel

What is the tof of all in Brussels? What is it that means that you would never move out of Brussels? The zinneke spirit

What is really not so tof in Brussels? What would make you flee from Brussels? The "civil servant" spirit

Tell us if this idea is tof or not tof:

• A swimming pool floating on the canal? Tof!
• Congestion Tax for cars in the city centre area? Tof!
• Non-smoking restaurants and bars? Tof!
• Banning chip shops? Not Tof!