Veronique Branquinho's Subtle Chic
By Godfrey Deeny
(Photos by FWD)
PARIS, Jan 29, 2003/ FWD/ --- The latest design voice from Antwerp to join the men's
wear designer club label is Veronique Branquinho, the high priestess of monochrome romanticism.
"Designing for women is completely intuitive. But with men I had to think how I'd like a
guy beside me to look," Branquinho told FWD, citing French cop movies and heartthrob
actors as influences in the collection.
"I wanted things simple and not too fashiony, a discreet collection where the pleasure
is in the details and fabrics," she says, holding up the sleeve of a jacket in Irish
herringbone Shetland.
On the opening afternoon of the presentation of her debut men's collection in a Marais
showroom, Branquinho enthused about hiding all stitches, using "bachelor" buttons,
where the button is not sewn on but held on by tiny metal rings, and her novel approach to
darts, running them from pants back to front pockets.
Her suit silhouette was very contemporary, displaying gradually flared pants with snug
one-button jackets and narrow shoulders, giving it a hunting touch thanks to peaked shoulders.
"My father who is a hunter must inspire me," she smiles, later dismissing PETA
as fighting against "something that's natural."
Branquinho's tailored clothes are made of British and Irish fabrics and the knits of
Italian material, but everything else is manufactured from the designer's native Belgium.
Veronique likes guys to wear slightly rough touching knits, like steely gray cardigans
with padded forearms.
But her single most original look was a black cardigan, cut in the shape of a Perfecto jacket.
Branquinho also showed mid-length parkas with a super soft cotton finish and four-pocket
reefer coats in cognac and black aged leather ("Where you can still see the animal in it"),
or in black cotton or white wool ("Like Alain Delon in Le Flic").
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