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Veronique Branquinho Interview

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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Veronique Branquinho Interview


    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.


    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
  • zamb
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2006
    • 5834

    #2
    Re: Veronique Branquinho Interview



    thanks for the interview Faust,



    It seems kinda old though (my sixth year, helmut langas a working designer?)



    Do you know how long Ago was it?, It doesnt really matter though, as she rarely gives interviews

    “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
    .................................................. .......................


    Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

    Comment

    • Faust
      kitsch killer
      • Sep 2006
      • 37852

      #3
      Re: Veronique Branquinho Interview

      [quote user="zamb"]

      thanks for the interview Faust,



      It seems kinda old though (my sixth year, helmut langas a working designer?)



      Do you know how long Ago was it?, It doesnt really matter though, as she rarely gives interviews



      [/quote]



      Yea, it does seem like a while ago. There was no date.

      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

      Comment

      • zamb
        Senior Member
        • Nov 2006
        • 5834

        #4
        Re: Veronique Branquinho Interview



        Yes, on a side note though, did you see the New Helmut Lang Line (by Micheal and Nicole)



        Caffeine said she saw it and its Kinda Good, Also my Manager at my Dayjob (a Huge Lang Addict) said she saw it at Barneys and itslooks Good. narrow Sleeves, High Armholes etc.



        Today she is wearing a Grey Vintage Lang T-shirt, with some kinda sleeve (bicep) detail and Grey IOC jeans with waisband Tabs.



        Damn, i wish some Kinda demon would posses him to come back............. It Kinda Sucks without Him around

        “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
        .................................................. .......................


        Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

        Comment

        • Faust
          kitsch killer
          • Sep 2006
          • 37852

          #5
          Re: Veronique Branquinho Interview

          [quote user="zamb"]

          Yes, on a side note though, did you see the New Helmut Lang Line (by Micheal and Nicole)



          Caffeine said she saw it and its Kinda Good, Also my Manager at my Dayjob (a Huge Lang Addict) said she saw it at Barneys and itslooks Good. narrow Sleeves, High Armholes etc.



          Today she is wearing a Grey Vintage Lang T-shirt, with some kinda sleeve (bicep) detail and Grey IOC jeans with waisband Tabs.



          Damn, i wish some Kinda demon would posses him to come back............. It Kinda Sucks without Him around



          [/quote]



          Yes. I won't touch it with a ten foot pole though. (Can't wait for my SpaceCat sweatshirt to get here)

          Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

          StyleZeitgeist Magazine

          Comment

          • zamb
            Senior Member
            • Nov 2006
            • 5834

            #6
            Re: Veronique Branquinho Interview

            [quote user="Faust"][quote user="zamb"]

            Yes, on a side note though, did you see the New Helmut Lang Line (by Micheal and Nicole)



            Caffeine said she saw it and its Kinda Good, Also my Manager at my Dayjob (a Huge Lang Addict) said she saw it at Barneys and itslooks Good. narrow Sleeves, High Armholes etc.



            Today she is wearing a Grey Vintage Lang T-shirt, with some kinda sleeve (bicep) detail and Grey IOC jeans with waisband Tabs.



            Damn, i wish some Kinda demon would posses him to come back............. It Kinda Sucks without Him around



            [/quote]



            Yes. I won't touch it with a ten foot pole though. (Can't wait for my SpaceCat sweatshirt to get here)



            [/quote]



            I agree with you on this one. Even if it is super fabulous, my integrity alone (and my disdain) for these kind of situations who cause me to resist it.

            “You know,” he says, with a resilient smile, “it is a hard world for poets.”
            .................................................. .......................


            Zam Barrett Spring 2017 Now in stock

            Comment

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