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On Wednesday the 24th November Café Costume is hosting a finissage for the Brandon Wen x CC collaboration. As one of 20 alliances set up by the A/Part incentive, the joint effort resulted in several silhouettes that flirt with the boundaries of suiting. From 19h until 22h, the Café Costume shop showcases every outfit on offer.

“It made me reminisce on my own days as a design student."

Café Costume’s CEO Bruno Van Gils, reflects on the coalition with a nostalgic feeling. “Brandon carried an atmosphere of freedom, which allowed me to immediatly feel at ease. It made me reminisce on my own days as a design student.” “What made it a good partnership is the two essentially different starting points. This puts emphasis on the creative process and diverts it from the result. This is interesting to me because it adds to the personal aspect, if not the professional one.” On the divide between designer and tailor, Bruno is outspokenly positive: “Working with someone as creative [as Brandon Wen] obviously sheds a different light on things you’ve grown used to. Initially this feels uncomfortable or even abrasive, but it soon renewed my enthusiasm and widened my vision.

       Brandon Wen’s initial idea was painting collaborations. However, after the initial meeting, the approach became something of a 3D collage. “Bruno brought patterns, I brought some materials of my own, and then we gradually merged them”, Brandon reflects. Somehow, the pair ended up with creations that are structurally suitings, albeit quintessentially Wen-inspired. “The fact that we set out to explore, to stray from the classic base of suitings, gave us so much pleasure.” Ultimately the results were not as ‘product-oriented’ as most of the other projects. “Looking back, I wouldn’t do it any differently. The whole thing revolved around the relationship Bruno and I developed along the way. I needed structure, he needed creative input. The outcome was something tangible and conceptual at the same time.