Antwerp yields not an inch to Brussels in the style wars — in fact, Antwerp is by far the more fashion conscious of the two. During the 1980s and 1990s, youthful local fashion designers, graduates of the city’s Fine Arts Academy, made a major and enduring impact within Belgium and established a substantial international reputation. Expensive, upmarket stores, boutiques, and department stores abound in De Keyserlei and the Meir. For haute couture, go to Leopoldstraat; for lace, the streets surrounding the cathedral; for books, Hoogstraat; for electronics and antiques, Minderbroedersrui; and for diamonds, Appelmansstraat and nearby streets, all near Centraal Station.

A top Belgian fashion designer keeps shop at Ann Demeulemeester’s, in front of the Royal Fine Arts Museum. Demeulemeester, one of the “Antwerp Six,” turned down an offer from Naomi Campbell to model her clothes on the grounds that Campbell, though admittedly beautiful, was glamorous rather than elegant. This is the only place in the world where you can buy her complete lines of clothes, shoes, and accessories for both men and women. Space for displaying them is not a problem at this former seaman’s academy, a 19th-century listed building.

For diamonds, visit the glittering jewelry and gold stores of the Diamond Quarter, around Centraal Station. At Diamondland, it’s fascinating to watch expert cutters and polishers transform undistinguished stones into gems of glittering beauty — the “Antwerp cut” is said to give them more sparkle. This luxurious showplace, the city’s biggest, provides a firsthand look at the process on a guided tour of its workrooms, and you can take home a souvenir of lasting value for a price considerably lower than you’d pay elsewhere.

Antwerp’s famed street markets are fun as well as good bargain-hunting territory. If you’re in town on a Saturday from April till September, shop for a steal (that’ll be the day) at the Antiques Market, Lijnwaadmarkt, Saturday from Easter to October 10am to 6pm. The outstanding Bird Market is a general market that features live animals, plants, textiles, and foodstuffs; it takes place Sunday mornings in Oude Vaartplaats near the City Theater. At the Friday Market, on Wednesday and Friday mornings on Vrijdagmarkt facing the Plantin-Moretus Museum, household goods and secondhand furniture are put on public auction.