Borrowed from South Willard's website.
Veronique Branquinho interviewed by Penny Martin
At what point were you first aware that you were becoming a fashion designer?
I was quite young when I determined to be a
designer. I was maybe around fourteen years old and I was interested in
drawing. I noticed the emergence of the famous ?six? Belgian designers
[Walter van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Marina Yee, Dirk van
Saene, Dries Van Noten and Dirk Bikkembergs]. It was the first time
that I connected to fashion, because I loved fashion, but it always
seemed really far away from me. It was the period of Montana, Mugler,
Gaultier; very much fashion as a show. Very far away. When I saw those
Belgian designers I felt ?yes, this is what I understand and what I
could do?. I was really closely connected to them, so they gave me the
start. Then I moved from a normal school to an art school, in
preparation for the Academy.
Of what relevance is your training at the Fashion Department of The Fine Arts Academy of Antwerp to your current practice?
There are two aspects to this. I see this like a
phase, in a lifetime. I don?t think what I do now has much to do with
the Academy. I came to the Academy in 1991 when I was eighteen years
old, not a fully formed person. They help you to discover what?s inside
of you. They don?t force you to do things, they just help you to say
what you have to say. You get more formed and when you leave (in 1995)
you?re more certain of yourself. More secure. Then, when you start your
own collection (for me, in 1997), it?s nothing that you can be prepared
for. It?s not something you can learn about. It was a very useful phase
of my life, to have been surrounded by creative people like painters,
photographers, a lot of my friends come from the Academy. It was a very
important time of self-discovery.
Can you describe how you approach designing a new collection: which bits do you keep and which do you discard?
Those decisions are made very intuitively. When
I?m working on a collection, I?m looking for a certain shape or a
certain form of garment. For me, it?s like the pure form that?s
important. It?s like purity. When you find that pure shape, I don?t see
the need to change it every six months because it?s summer or winter.
That?s why I keep a lot of the same shapes. That?s the base, you know.
Like when I was looking for the perfect pair of trousers. I worked a
long time to have this shape. Of course I will do other shapes, but for
me, those are the essence. It?s difficult in a society that is so
reliant on change, and some use the charge of continuity as a form of
criticism, doing the same things. But it?s a big collection, like
ninety different models, and (of which) maybe only six are the same.
Do you have any stock sources of inspiration that help you out in a creative crisis?
I have notebooks everywhere in the house. Every
time I think of something, I just make a note. When I start working on
a collection, sometimes it?s really conceived in my head: ?its going to
be that?, and I start with a certain mood. Then sometimes I want
colour: it?s more of an abstract process, like a mood. It?s very
difficult to talk about. Those notebooks, I always have a look at and
some ideas from them fit into the collection. I start more with a mood
than with a shape or something. The first few seasons were very much
about this ?double life?, duality and womenhood. I could find that in
Twin Peaks? Laura Palmer. Since then, it?s been following me, this
character of Laura Palmer. In any collection of mine, it?s about the
question ?what is a woman? What is the inner nature of being a woman??
It?s still about what you feel.
Much has been made of the treatment of
femininity in your clothes. What you have characterised as a ?duality?
of womanhood or the progression from girl to woman in the designs, some
critics have identified as a lack of overt sexuality. Do you think this
is a fair assessment?
Sometimes people say my designs are sexless and I
feel ?oh my God! It?s not meant to be!? Maybe that?s just the way you
look at sexuality, it?s different for everybody. For me, it?s very much
about what?s going on in your head, about a certain mood. It?s not
about showing breasts and legs. It?s a very intellectual thing.
Belgians are very reserved people and it?s not about showing off at
all. It doesn?t mean that what I want to say is sexless. On the
contrary, the collections are very close to me and what I?m living
through. I?m not a sexless person; I like the way that it gets a little
bit complicated, a little bit mysterious. To conquer sex is much more
attractive than the act itself. The tension between two people; that?s
harder to get than to merely show off a body.
For your A/W ?03 collection, upon which Jean
Francois Carly?s film is based, you have said the inspiration was
ice-dancing competitions. Again, this is a forum in which girls are
encouraged to be confident and powerful. Is this something you
consciously pursue?
I think the girls that ice-dance are considered
confident mostly by the outside world, but they still have certain
insecurities. The thing with ice-dancers is that they are looked at as
big ladies who can do a lot of things but in fact, they are also
insecure about failure and things that can go wrong, about growing up
too early. It?s very ambiguous. I think they are too sensitive to be
secure, as that would be arrogant. They are not that.
Do you see a difference between looking at your clothes captured in film to those in still imagery?
I really like to see them in films because when
I?m making a collection, it?s not only a static thing. It?s also about
movement, it?s very important. I really love ballet and dancing and
ice-skating because of the movement of the clothes. Also, when you are
making a picture, it?s more like a set-up: it gets more like perfection
because you can camouflage all the faults. It can look much better on a
picture, but I like the natural way of moving it. It?s the way they are
meant to be, it?s not a museum exhibit or gallery piece. They belong to
the streets and people?s lives.
You have said that your collections are
personal diaries: records of your innermost feelings. How do you
reconcile such an intimate act with putting them up for review before a
critical audience?
It?s really hard sometimes. For me, every six
months it?s the same story. You put all this energy into it and show
it. Whether the reviews are good or bad, you?ve still put the same
amount of energy into it. I?m trying to get used to it but criticism
can be positive, building. It also gives me more energy to do more, as
I?m not finished yet. It?s never one opinion: you try to take some
distance. The press opinions can be quite contradictory and then you
have the customers, friends, other people. If you can get something
positive out of it, it?s better.
Do you take notice of other designers? work? Who do you consider to be your peers?
I?m very interested in other people?s work. What
I?ve tried to do is just to say what I have to say. I think that?s what
the others do too. The people who I admire are very much into their own
world. I think that?s the only way to do it. When I started, there was
Martin Margiela and Ann Demeulemeester, you know, they?re very much
into their own world. Now, I think somebody like Hussein Chalayan is
doing what he?s doing. Helmut Lang has been doing it for a long time
already. Maybe during those ten years, the press has been less positive
than others, but he was still doing his thing. It?s now the sixth year
that I?ve been busy and I guess opinions change, but I can only do what
I?m doing.
What do you think it means to categorise you as a ?Belgian designer??
It?s very much created by the press: ?Belgian
Designers?. There was a time, maybe two years ago, when it was at the
top. Everything Belgian was great and now, the press have maybe had
enough. So now when you say it?s Belgian design, people are like ?yeah,
they?re always dark, always negative?. It?s what they make of it. I
don?t like those etiquettes, but I am Belgian and I am a designer. The
only thing I have in common with Ann Demeulemeester or other people is
that we are all Belgian and we are all designers, but we?re all doing
our own work. We?re not following trends.
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