Finding Bruno in Antwerp

As you all know I was fortunate enough to spend a long weekend in the quiet city of Antwerp and whilst admiring the architecture, exploring the home of Rubens, and eating far too much food we had more than enough time to hunt and gather some stock sale bargains. After the initial sale and resulting disappointment of the offerings at Ann Demeulemeester (the prices were somewhat off putting but the quality and stock in my size was also surprisingly lacklustre) and Dries Van Noten (which was huge and impressive but alas only large sizes were available for all of the good stuff...torture) we swung by Bruno Pieter's sale and my mood became a whole lot cheerier. The post therefore title does not refer to me watching an advanced screening of the latest guise of Sascha Baron Cohen causing laughter and embarrassment with his flamboyant Austrian fashionista's antics but rather nabbing a couple of gems from Bruno Pieter's menswear line.

The art of layering and clashing pattern. A favourite look from Pieter's AW08 collection...I was very tempted by the jacket but alas my size wasn't available!

In his role as Creative Director at Hugo by Hugo Boss (surely it should read by Bruno Pieters?) Pieters kicked off AW09 proceedings in Paris with a dizzying array of patterns and razor sharp tailoring which made me sit up and take notice. When I saw that the Belgium born and Royal Academy of Fine Arts graduate's name was included in the comprehensive list of stock sales in Antwerp I was eager to see what was on offer from his own, lesser known line. Where Hugo is in question he maintains a more geometric, German-style register whilst his own line is marked by romanticism and wonderful detailing. With only two shown collections I was worried that the amount of menswear on offer would be limited but I was more than pleasantly surprised by the rail after rail of pieces for me to try on. There was so much to tempt me but I carefully selected what I knew would fit in my wardrobe whilst adding something to it.

Here I am proudly modeling my favourite purchase. After a quick bit of research on men.style I am almost certain that this shirt comes from his AW07 collection. The detailing of the double collar is particularly interesting and at 90 Euros I jumped at the chance at owning my first piece of Bruno Pieter's.

After living with Susie this past year she has brain washed me and converted me in to a disciple of grey jersey and I could not resist this super soft long sleeve t shirt complete with subtle elbow pad detailing. This is officially my new favourite t shirt and I will no doubt wear it to death.

Elsewhere, there were a number of interesting pieces at the Tim van Steenbergen sale but I was pleased with my purchases and showed a surprising amount of self control. He is a designer I will be investigating further given he is quite established in Belgium. I will certainly plan in a return trip next time for the next round of stock sales, hopefully next year the pound will be a little stronger...