It’s the black Halston evening gown, flowing, simple and sexy, that I’m immediately drawn to. As someone born in the seventies, I arrived too late to indulge fully in the fabulousness of the era, and I’ve long lusted after these minimalist forms, with designers such as Halston dressing the likes of Jerry Hall and Liza Minnelli in garments that contrasted so beautifully with the chaos and excess of Studio 54, glam rock and glitter-ball disco.
This is the Kunstmuseum in The Hague, where the Reflections on Fashion exhibition is running until 3 January 2027. It’s a celebration of 75 years of the museum’s fashion collection, which began with a Dutch focus and now includes couture pieces from around the world, including the US, France and the Middle East.
Think of the Netherlands, and it’s usually Amsterdam or Rotterdam that spring to mind for a city break. Perhaps thanks to its political position on the map, The Hague tends to be overlooked in favour of these “livelier” cities. Yet The Hague, I discovered, was not only aesthetically pleasing, with a canal system and a mix of medieval, 17th-century and Art Nouveau architecture, but also youthful and vibrant. It’s also easy to reach from the UK, with the Eurostar to Rotterdam only requiring a change for a train journey of less than half an hour to The Hague.
It was, in fact, on the advice of a fellow vintage lover that The Hague crossed my radar. Expressing my desire to shop it up in Rotterdam, my friend urged me to make the trip a double-header. In the end, with the added allure of the beach in an unusually hot summer, plus the exhibition, The Hague occupied my entire three days.
One highlight of the exhibition is a blush-pink Chanel dress from 1926, found – can you imagine? – in a collection of fabric remnants. A video shows the tiered, knee-length, heavily beaded piece being painstakingly restored. The result, now forming part of the exhibition, is exquisite.
Other mannequins display items with a pop-culture focus, such as two dresses by American fashion designer Christian Siriano – one crimson mini with a ruffle cape worn by Lady Gaga in New York in 2018, and the other, a tulle and taffeta ballgown worn by Taylor Swift in the 2011 Wonderstruck perfume campaign.
The Halston is part of a “Seventy Shades of Black” display, which examines the depths and intensity of colour: historically, the exhibition explains, “dark black fabrics were rare, costly and labour-intensive.” Given how ubiquitous black is in modern fashion, this detail is an eye-opener.
Ubiquity is just one part of it, however: there’s undoubtedly a great deal that any present-day lover of fashion takes for granted, not least the speed with which garments can be procured. “Click to buy”, “shop the look”, “same day delivery”: there seems to be little that can’t be bought at speed. The Hague starts to make me rethink the habit.
The exhibition isn’t nostalgic, however. If anything, it asks why clothes survive, what they’re worth, and who decides. To my surprise, these questions seem particularly pertinent in The Hague. Over the course of my time in the city, I find it to be different from my preconceptions of it as a place defined by stuffy institutions. It is, of course, the home of the Dutch royal family, and the seat of the International Court of Justice and organisations such as the Hague Peace Projects. But it also has plenty to offer visitors seeking an autumn city break – for me, the draw is vintage shopping.
My exploration starts in the Hague Antique and Book Market, held on the tree-shade Lange Voorhout avenue in the city centre. It’s a Thursday when I visit, so I experience just a fraction of what’s on offer on Saturdays, when the promenade overflows with stalls. I chat with a charming bookseller, rifle through antique maps and botanical prints, clatter my hands through large wooden trays of silverware and gaze enviously at whole miniature villages in blue and white Delft. There’s a good turnout, even for a weekday – and it looks as though many are there to purchase, rather than merely browse. The vendors are professionals, however, which means that prices are considerably higher than at, for example, a flea market. The bonus is that I leave with a relatively full wallet. The danger? My appetite for more vintage has been sharpened.
There’s plenty of opportunity to shop for second-hand goods in the north of the city, around an hour and 15 minutes by public transport from Lange Voorhout. Zeeheldenkwartier is one of The Hague’s most attractive neighbourhoods – most of its architecture dates to the late 18th century and, while the streets aren’t car-free, traffic controls encourage walking and cycling. Independent cafes and neighbourhood bars inject a particular joie de vivre, enhanced by public planters spilling with flowers. My shopper’s Spidey senses home in on racks of clothing placed outside shops.
The cluster of vintage clothing stores in the area includes Achtung! Lady, and Lola Stola. I’m sorely tempted by a brown leather saddle bag, complete with horseshoe-shaped hardware – and a plum velvet jumpsuit – sadly, not in my size. But there are also shops in which you can dream of furnishing your imaginary Zeeheldenkwartier townhouse, such as Retroking Interior and Serendipity, where sheepskins and blankets are draped over wooden ladders, and lighting made from pickle jars dangles from the ceilings. Perhaps a little ambitious for luggage allowances, but splendid for inspiration, nonetheless.
I had a particularly joyful experience at Little Green Shop, where I was introduced to Japanese moss ball plants by the enthusiastic owner, the aptly (phonetically speaking) named Barro.
We all know that time around greenery makes us happier, but the spring in my gait as I stepped back out onto Prins Hendrikstraat was nothing short of jaunty.
Granted, many of The Hague’s vintage stores are highly curated, and the prices on swing tags reflect this. But if you simply fancy a charity shop rummage, Emmaus, The Salvation Army and Schroeder all have a strong presence in the city – and their low prices practically make sitting on your case a civic duty.
The Hague’s commitment to preserving and celebrating the past is not limited to fashion. I am staying at The Ald Hotel, a former printing office in the city centre, which honours the building’s history through an adapted design of its original structure: the former presence of heavy machinery suggested by the hotel’s high ceilings. Meanwhile, the colour scheme of its bar (and breakfast area) references print, as does its name – Ink’d.
In the northern Scheveningen district, De Plesman, where I had lunch one day, has similarly retained elements from its past as the headquarters of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. As well as its name – a celebration of KLM’s founder – it has preserved the bones of the 1939 construction. Look more closely, and references to the Golden Age of aviation are everywhere – from black-and-white photos of glamourous passengers to mid-century modern decor. Even the lighting has been custom-designed to mirror the radial shapes of vintage aircraft engines.
I reassessed my preconceptions of The Hague as stuffy. One could argue royalty is outdated, but when it comes to peace, justice, and, indeed, shopping, the city is forward-thinking. The Hague has carbon neutrality in its sights within the next few years – it was, for example, the first city in the world to ban advertising for fossil fuels, while The Hague Climate Agreement details projects such as urban greening and car-sharing projects. Why wouldn’t a city so committed to worthwhile causes embrace another?
I didn’t come home with a Halston, but my luggage was crammed with a sunburst clock, a Miffy memory game and psychedelic-swirl shirt – all second-hand buys. I also travelled home with a renewed appreciation for preserving what already exists. After all, the most enlightened and fashionable shoppers go vintage.
Getting there
The writer was a guest of holland.com. She travelled to The Hague on Eurostar, which has standard, one-way tickets from London to Rotterdam from £51. Trains between Rotterdam and The Hague take between 22 minutes and half an hour, with tickets from £5.70.
Staying there
The Ald Hotel has doubles from £122, thealdhotel.com/en/