Following Martine Sitbon as the second womens designer to curate an A, it was clear that Veronique Branquinho was to present a very different vision of femininity and the modern woman in A#6. As a designer, Veronique has never been one for excessive embellishment and exaggeration, rather choosing to craft a romantic and classical wardrobe borrowing from masculine tailoring techniques – essentially underpinned with a dreamy softness of fabric and drape.

Wearing her influences on her sleeve, Veronique’s streak of darkness is always evident, as she counts the work of David Lynch and Tim Burton amongst her inspirations, and the music of Nick Cave, Radiohead and Joy Division as her soundtrack.

The 1975 Australian film ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’ was the starting point for Veronique’s first presentation in Paris in 1997 – with crisp white shirting, longline blazers and tiered, pleated floor length sundresses setting a relaxed tone. Such classical, elegant minimalism followed through subsequent collections, with flared trousers, trench coats, capes and high-neckline blouses that resounded a film-noir, Katherine Hepburn-esque ease.

Over the years, Veronique has carried her aesthetic through several brooding, cinematic photoshoots with photographers such as Ronald Stoops, Alex Salinas, and Raf Coolen. Portraying women as both powerful and sensitive, the below images tell a sincere narrative of intelligent, instinctual heroines whose gaze penetrates far deeper than fabric.

Above: Spring Summer 1998 photographed by Ronald Stoops.

Above: Fall Winter 1999 photographed by Raf Coolen.

Above: Fall Winter 2002 photographed by Raf Coolen.

Above: Fall Winter 2004-2005 photographed by Alex Salinas.

Above: Spring Summer 2005 photographed by Alex Salinas.

Images, all rights reserved.

In an exciting and unusual development in Belgian fashion, A#7′s curator Veronique Branquinho presented her first official collection for the 180 year old leather house Delvaux as a fully-fledge catwalk show in Paris this month. Foregoing any traditional notions of a ‘handbag presentation’, the house staged a stunning defilé for an intimate crowd – with models showcasing the luxurious leather handbags, belts and gloves with minimal outfits in a muted earthy palette. The models wore classic tailoring crafted in collaboration with Belgian tailors Maison Scabal, for a special project entitled Nº12 by Scabal & Delvaux.

The bags came in all shapes and sizes, finished in exquisite polished calf, nappa, lizard, ostrich, and crocodile leathers. From slimline clutches to barrel-shaped sacks, doctor’s satchels and totes, the classic shapes of Delvaux were relived in sophisticated colourways of terracotta, deep forest green, shiny black and chocolate brown. The house’s signature D-clasp was a discreet addition to some styles, but without overwhelming. Veronique allowed the superior quality leathers and artisanal craftsmanship to speak for itself, carrying her own minimal sense of design through in an almost clinical way, utilising the malleable or rigid qualities of the different leathers to create styles that folded over themselves, wrapped into organic shapes or held boxy, square shapes. Hints of gold and silver hardware were necessary utilitarian details that added a sophisticated touch of decoration.

For her first collection as artistic director, Veronique Branquinho has lent a calculated direction to the house of Delvaux, channeling the best of their well established resources into a coherent, understandable and covetable collection of leathergoods – reviving the ageing house for the 21st century with a feminine and contemporary take on their timeless products.

all images courtesy of by2 photographers

As the month of September comes to a close today and our celebration of Veronique Branquinho’s A#6, we leave you with Serge Leblon – the last male figure whom Veronique chose for her ‘Compliments to Beautiful Men’. Serge is a Belgian photographer whose career began not in the studio but as a news photographer on the front line, covering the war in Lebanon. Perhaps this grounding has contributed to the aesthetic of his images, with a depth of field and soft nuances of focus that lends a gritty romance, however harsh or commonplace the subject may be.

Included with Serge’s portrait by Arnaud Pyvka are his image ‘L’Avion’ of the snub nose of an aeroplane discretely concealed at an airport, and ‘La Main’, a poised female hand with red varnished nails grasping a metal bar [i see her travelling on a bus]. Besides this story, Serge has contributed the beautiful editorial  ”The Owls Are Not What They Seem”, the David Lynch inspired title signifying a masked fashion story, with model Kim Peers appearing nude beneath Veronique’s spectacular outerwear pieces and an array of exotic masks.

SERGE ON HER: voluptuous, sophisticated, evocative, liberated, rock’n'roll.

VERONIQUE ON HIM: instinctive, poetic, inspired, attentive, french movies.

A BLOG is delighted to present Australian freelance journalist Mike Huynh of Cultures in Between as our latest external author, as we showcase his work – thorough yet concise articles which are truly relevant in the world of A MAGAZINE.

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Veronique Branquinho closed her eponymous label after a constant cycle of designing and constructing structured fabrics pertaining to her culture, personality and sensitivity in the last 10 years. What is most enchanting about this woman is not her ability to design and produce clothes, but the world in which she contextualizes her creations. Certainly, when viewing her work in the international fashion construct, she has mastered the ability to drape, wrap and tailor silhouettes in their most sleek, deceptively simple forms.  However, she is captivating because the personality evoked in her work seemingly exists in a dark, enigmatic ‘dream within reality’, a reason for the international media labelling her a ‘high priestess’ of austere dark garments.

‘As Black as Midnight on a Moonless Night’, photographed brilliantly by Alex Salinas, provides both visual and subliminal nuances into the depths of womanhood, a phenomenon which Veronique has consistently sought to explore. A trompe l’oeil emerald satin zip dress or a high-necked silk blouson worn with long pleated skirts are odes to being lady-like – a woman’s sexuality that is alluringly reserved and shown with savoir faire, captured deep in the forest. Veronique has never wanted to show us her work with melancholy or despair, it is a celebration of another side of beauty.

The photographic direction taken by Serge Leblon in another editorial story ‘The owls are not what they seem’ seeks to retain this feminine mystique and beauty, something that we often try to capture in vain (particularly through the eyes of the opposite sex) we are transfixed by the portrayal of women through history and time. It is a wonderful embodiment of her collections, revealing a heightened tension and an untamed beauty – wrapped by a masculine tailored jacket, a leather coat or a shroud-like tied black cape.

The tone of black has been a pigment that reoccurs in Veronique’s colour palette since her first collection in 1988. Why? Because she is unafraid of the brooding dark – that haunting, unknown, shadowed abyss that we ourselves find most terrifying.

So like a constant beacon present in A#6, we begin to gradually break through her enigma code. Through sequences like these we submerge ourselves in Veronique’s dream reality – haunted by stark and frozen scenes of bewitched and almost tortured souls, stationary in a pitched black night.

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What to take from her fashion success?

That women can never be so easily simplified as men and that their characteristics are both arcane and mysterious, never cold and always inviting. It is an inner journey that broadcasts the complexity and layers of meaning from the transition of an ingénue to the status of womanhood. “I like women who are ambiguous, female and powerful, dramatic and strong.” In the end, her clothes are the markup of her emotions and the personification of her magnificent elegance.

The pages of Veronique Branquinho’s A#6 are filled with the artworks and stories of a varied group of accomplished, creative men who have touched her life with their unique gifts and personalities. One of these is the performing artist Sam Louwyck, who’s masterful use of the human body as his medium offers audiences a vibrant and cathartic display of raw masculinity and movement that spans drama and dance.

As a player in the 1990′s Flemish Wave (that brought a new, off-kilter vision to European theatre) Sam was a performer in Alain Patel’s ‘Les Ballets C de la B’ a dance company with contemporary and abstract visions, and has worked with Veronique Branquinho herself on an adaptation of Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro on stage in Belgium. He has played starring roles in ‘Anyway the wind blows’ and other features, and continues to direct and perform in extended works today. In A#6 we see Sam’s various guises across some of his many productions, and a short, handwritten poem that exhibits his dry yet sensitive humour.

Macho

“She walked down the stairs,

Long, teasing curls in her hair

Hair that grew all over her body

Thus, she caught the eye of

almost everybody.

She did not really feel like being here,

until he caught her there

sitting on the stair, crying,

feeling like dying.

He called her to her duty and

she proved to be an extraordinary woman,

although she was no beauty.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7lwMzA4Lic[/youtube]

An excerpt from “Anyway the Wind Blows” – see Sam’s performance after about two minutes in!

Luc Tuymans is one of Belgium’s most celebrated contemporary artists, a painter whose figurative oil paintings celebrate modern manufactured and natural artefacts with a covert symbolism that renders even the simplest objects complex through connotation. His work carries cultural subtexts that cover historical events relevant to his life and times, such as Belgian Congo conflict, World War II and the birth of the internet.

For Veronique Branquinho’s A#6, three of Luc’s works have been included alongside his bare-legged portrait by Alex Salinas (Luc clasping his trousers in one hand, standing on the riverbank with a knowing stare). These works are ‘The Rabbit’ (1994), and ‘The Parc’ (2005)  both subdued pieces that show Luc’s use of a cropping technique to show an investigative focus on often banal objects, and ‘Ballroom’ (2005) that showcases his mastery of perspective.

LUC ON HER: bitch, violence, vertical, crash, perverse

SHE ON LUC: macho, nighthawk, ambiguous, entertainer, who’s afraid of virginia woolf

Gregory Frateur is the fifth of Veronique Branquinho’s beautiful men celebrated in A#6, and the lead singer of Belgian musical group Dez Mona, a unique musical experience that melds jazz sensibilities with off-kilter choral and alternative rock influences. Gregory’s voice has a raspy timbre and a subtle androgyny, not unlike that of Jazz Age singer Nina Simone. The powerful lyrics of their song ‘I’m on trial’ are included with Tom Verbruggen’s image of Gregory performing live:

“I lost it all that’s true my friend

How pitiful indeed

Obscenity got through again

Surrounded by your tears

Insanity rested on my shoulders

It put me down on my knees

It’s here I pray and hope to find

Salvation from my deeds

I’m on trial

I’m badly in debt my friend

My body is claiming the fee

I’m leaning against a bleeding wall

Made of stones who were given to me

I’m a passenger who’s counting down his number

A passenger counting down his days

I’m on trial“

GREGORY ON HER: dominance, charisma/magnetism, bach (cello suites), ethos, film noir

VERONIQUE ON HIM: amazing voice, echo of a glorious past, allure, baroque, primitive power

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L67He67MmAk[/youtube]

“Her Skin is white cloth,

and she’s all sewn apart

and she has many colored pins

sticking out of her heart.

She has a beautiful set

of hypno-disk eyes,

the ones that she uses to hypnotize guys.

She has many different zombies

who are deeply in her trance,

She even has a zombie

who was originally from France.

But she knows she has a curse on her,

a curse she cannot win.

For if someone gets

too close to her,

the pins stick farther in.”

This is the second in Tim Burton’s beautiful, dark and witty contributions to Veronique Branquinho’s A#6, the tale of ‘Voodoo Girl’ and her sad curse of emotional survival and protection. It is from his book ‘The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other stories’ published in 1997.

Raf Simons and Veronique Branquinho share a closely interwoven history, a story kept out of the limelight of fashion. Riding past on her bicycle one day, Veronique first met Raf in Antwerp with Olivier Rizzo (now one of the world’s most celebrated stylists). Raf asked Veronique to be a part of an 8mm film project he was working on, and in this way they began their relationship that has evolved now into a lifelong friendship, the two parting ways but with an undeniable link remaining that talks of beginnings, their youth and shared memories. For A#6, Raf has contributed careful words that hark back to these memories and illicit a quiet dialogue between the two designers – sharing their story yet in such an abstract way that it still remains so personal to them. Accompanied by an illustration by Francis, of a young Veronique and Raf, he has alluded to eight references:

Pin Cushion Queen

Togo

Picnic at Hanging Rock

White Christmas Tree

Pepsi Max

Stick Boy & Match Girl

Candle

John Currin

Some references are explicit enough, such as the two Tim Burton stories of the ‘Pin Cushion Queen’ and ‘Stick Boy and Match Girl’, and John Currin – the satirical American painter whose style echoes renaissance oils yet with a somewhat twisted and sexual contemporary context. Other references however are a little less obvious, such as ‘Pepsi Max’ and ‘White Christmas Tree’ – these are stories that may not be told by me or you, but best left to Raf himself to explain.

Veronique Branquinho is an intensely interesting and interested woman, whose passions lie far afield from the closed circuit world of fashion. As a young woman she was a collector, as described by Oscar Van Den Boogard in the seminal opening text to A#6, ‘Moi, Veronique’, and has continued this trait – as not only a collector of knick knacks and tidbits, but a collector of friends, memories and experiences. One of her passions is vintage cars and driving them, and in A#6 this has been illustrated by a collage of vintage sports cars, and beautifully captured in the image by Serge Leblon entitled ‘Queen of the Road’ pictured above. The collage contains an image from the Steve McQueen film ‘Bullitt’ from 1968, and below you can see a clip from it’s famous car chase scene. Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-7IEPTAoTg[/youtube]