Veronique Branquinho
PARIS, March 12, 2002
By
Veronique Branquinho has a remarkable talent for treading lightly through the season's important trends while never showing a single piece that could be called "trendy." Take lamé or collage and contrast fabrics or trompe l'oeil dresses. Or then again, take knit-art, velvet, satin, military, men's wear influences, and all those indescribable nuances of pale, dusted-to-nothing tones of pink, misty grays, oyster and fawn. Branquinho has it all, and still emerges looking like no one but herself.The gold lamé came muted and antiqued—and excused of all vulgarity—in a long sleeved peasant dress with a square bib of brocade. The knits included jacquard turtlenecks, patterned like Victorian wallpaper and fluted dresses with full, striped skirts. Branquinho showed khaki bombers sometimes with her signature gathered yoke, and new versions of the coats with the tiny puff in the shoulder line she originated in the late '90s.
Branquinho's approach encompasses both a non-wimpy sense of poetry and real wearability. She cuts a flattering mannish pant, a fabulous tailored velvet jacket and has the kind of stacked narrow-heeled boots that will make absolutely everything in a woman's wardrobe work for fall. She's also got the skill to experiment on classic and even frumpy ideas, tipping them into avant-garde territory. Her versions of Chanel tweed suits, cut narrow and with the edges left frayed, are certain to wield star influence next season.
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