Debo, 33, officially became the director of the Antwerp Fashion Museum (MoMu) on 1 March – more than a year after she was named acting director. She already has eight years of experience in both fashion and museums. She started her career at MoMu in 2001, when it first opened its doors, as a scientific assistant researching exhibition policy. Afterwards, she was appointed the museum’s curator.

Debo’s passion for research marks her influential presence in the Flemish fashion world. It is exactly the vision of fashion as an anthropological aspect that has made the exhibitions at MoMu under her supervision such inspiring and intriguing experiences, rather than straightforward showcases of only one layer of the fashion industry: its clothes.

MoMu has garnered international attention with many of its exhibitions, thanks to a groundbreaking, all-round approach. Whether it’s the elusive Belgian designer Véronique Branquinho finally opening up and letting people into her mysterious world or the sheer technical genius of patterns and the process of patternmaking, MoMu creates a world of wonder that is not only informative, but downright exciting. And it has Debo to thank for it.

In the future, the director wants to further play out the MoMu’s trump card: its magnificent themed expositions, some of which have been travelling around the world since last year. She also aims to develop the main collection of the museum, making it an additional attraction.

But Debo wants to go even further than that. On a meta-level, she wants to investigate the role of museums in contemporary society and pinpoint how MoMu can adapt to that while continuing to pioneer in not just the fashion museum sector, but the museum industry as a whole.

Thanks to this, Debo has positioned herself right at the top of something you could call “the intellectual fashion scene” in a relatively short period of time. While working at MoMu, she has also filled the position of editor-in-chief of A Magazine, which is commissioned by a different fashion designer every six months. Her introductions to the magazine and to catalogues published to accompany the exhibitions, are another way for Debo to share her vast knowledge of and smart take on fashion.