With her subdued, dark show, Veronique Branquinho joined a growing group of designers using the tuxedo as a fall leitmotif. Trust the Belgian designer not to play it straight, though. At the beginning, a model came out in tails and men s trousers, a delicate silver chain strung across the lapels serving as the look s one womanly touch. By the end, she had a model wearing a slim, knee-length black skirt, the back of which resembled the bottom of that earlier tail coat. And in between, there were plenty more of these intriguing if sometimes overly fussy conceits: an elongated striped vest over matching pants that looked more like an apron dress from behind; neckties made from shining chain mail; and satin girdles topping button-down shirts and peeking out above boyish pants.
The play between masculine and feminine is hardly unfamiliar territory for Branquinho. For her men s show in January, she presented his and her versions of trench coats, furs, and Aran knits. So it was surprising that the fit was sometimes off, as it was on a standup-collar cropped jacket and a pair of elaborate pants with part of a vest seemingly attached at the waistband like a sort of makeshift cummerbund. Where she looked more assured was with her fine knits and a pair of silk velvet dresses, one in emerald, the other champagne, the back zippers of which were shown provocatively unzipped. They weren t complicated, and that s what made them so sexy.
