VÉRONIQUE BRANQUINHO AUTUMN/WINTER 2015-16 READY-TO-WEAR PARIS FASHION WEEK

Leave it to Veronique Branquinho to incorporate lines of Emily Brontë into a Fair Isle sweater. That item captured the brooding, yet romantic spirit of her fall collection, where sweet and demure shapes collided with acres of paper-thin black leather and nubby, thrift-shop tweeds.

This was a fine, back-to-the-roots effort for the Belgian designer, revisiting her long, accordion-pleated skirts paired with lacy blouses or silky ones with bow ties. Flaring maxi coats and dramatic, billowing leather cloaks yearned for the wiley, windy moors — or some hip district like the one blossoming around Antwerp’s Museum aan de Stroom, which Branquinho talked about backstage.

The granny tweeds in browns and rust looked cool, mounted as pockets and panels on technical mesh — or as a bib-front on a blouse or long silken dress in offbeat colors like daffodil and mint. The dignity, finesse and quiet melancholy of the clothes added up to a tender fashion moment.