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.