PARIS, February 25, 2007 – Tina Chow was the inspiration cited in Bruno Pieters' Fall collection. Remembered for her sleek, understated style and boyish haircut, the late fashion icon made an apt point of reference for the 29-year-old Belgian designer with the sharp, almost architectural sensibility. You could imagine Chow in his shiny tweed lantern-sleeve jacket with a square neck and a light, flippy skirt worn with flat over-the-knee boots. And she might well have donned a plain black bustier with a high-waisted, quasi-bubble skirt in gold lamé. The collection’s strengths were to be found in coats and suits nearly military in their precision. Its weaknesses, in the plain-Jane knits and the reds and yellows that lacked both the sophistication and the wearability of the neutrals. Pieters used some of the €100,000 he won from the Swiss Textiles Award in November to put on his first formal show, and—consider it growing pains—there were echoes of his do-it-yourself previous presentations in the distracting and unflattering hair ornaments. But those details aside, there’s no denying the enviable polish of his tailoring.

– Nicole Phelps