Pieterjan Van Biesen is active in Belgium, France and The Netherlands in the domain of fashion and luxury. With 10 years of brand- and relationship building expertise and an unmatched network of media, stylists, opinion-formers, digital influencers and artists. He got known as the right hand of designer Edouard Vermeulen.

Pieterjan is a Professor Digital Marketing & Branding -fashion Management- at Antwerp Management School.

He conducted research for Solvay Business School. His lectures “We ARE ALL CHILDREN OF JULES VERNE” and “Codes of Luxury” can be given to inspire or challenge in-house teams or business partners. Read more under “Lectures”.

He was elected best dressed man By Trends Magazine in 2021.

Discover more on LinkedIn or Instagram.

Pieterjan Van Biesen - As written by Elisabeth Claus for Trends Magazine.

He is 34 years old, when one would think he was seven years younger, judging by his slender appearance and youthful features. At 1.92m, he occupies space, but with delicacy, like a line that announces the beginnings of a written story. 

Pieterjan was born and raised in Aalst. Since he was a teenager, he dreamed of Brussels, felt attracted by the big city lifestyle, but still wanted to stay in Belgium for a while. With the idea, perhaps, of one day moving further afield. But the capital is already a little bit French, in particular the Brugmann district,  where Maison Natan, the fashion house he works for, has set up its Atelier II. A place for creation and visits by appointment, in a Haussmannian building bathed in light. Designed as a research laboratory for volumes and ready-to-wear, dedicated to crafts and special orders, this place welcomes our photo session this morning when autumn still looks like summer, backstage at the Belgian Couture to tell the story of the vocation of a discreet young man, fond of art and sophistication. 

Rigour and creativity

He wanted to be an architect like his grandfather, but his grandfather brought him back to the reality of a profession that is less glamorous than it seems. So he studied commercial engineering at Solvay. From this beloved grandfather, he kept his passion for painting, which he has practised since childhood. In the studio he set up for himself in the attic of his Brussels flat, he undertook to complete his grandfather's unfinished canvases, in a spirit of connection and transmission. He also sculpts, from plaster and clay. A night owl, he likes to entertain, organise dinners and, when the city is quiet, indulge in the applied arts. "I always have trouble going to bed. I need to be active, from midnight and sometimes until the early hours of the morning, I finally have some time to myself.

Belgian roots

After graduating, he was destined for marketing and began his career with a car brand. Always involved but aware that agency work was not for him, he sought out assignments directly with brands. This is how he became a training & recruiting manager at Abercrombie and Fitch. The result was travel that fed his curiosity about other realities, and exciting operations for launching and opening shops. At 27, already accustomed to responsibilities, he chose to apply to the House of Natan. Why this institution of elegance and tradition? "I loved the brand, one of our Belgian icons. My mother used to wear its clothes, and I really liked the combination of classic chic and modernity. I also wanted to bring a more internationalised vision to the house, whose codes, supported by teamwork, are constantly evolving, while its strong identity remains." Édouard Vermeulen placed his trust in him to manage the shops and open his own boutique in Amsterdam, and for the past few seasons he has been in charge of communication and digital marketing.

His connection to Maison Natan

He could have chosen his own (tidy) living room or an all-white studio as a shooting location, but once again Pieterjan is back where Natan expects him. A few days ago, the spring summer 22 collection was shown in Amsterdam, with a male silhouette on the catwalk, not because the house would be launching a men's line, "but to make everyone feel good about it, and about Natan. We cultivate a classic DNA, but totally anchored in the times". There are times when we need life to become an art. The house, fundamentally attached to elegance and extrapolating the anchored lightness of modernity further each season, is looking forward to the coming summer with pieces with youthful, chic and sensual lines, celebrations in silk and cotton of joyful eccentricity, borrowing from art and spreading spontaneous energy in each piece. 

(Navy) blue at heart

From trench coats to socks, only her impressive collection of black boots compromises with the ink of her wardrobe. "It's my armour and my comfort. I have so much navy blue, that if I know I dress differently every day, other people must think I'm always wearing the same thing! (he laughs). I have a good command of my codes and it makes my life easier. I don't have to think about how I get dressed every morning. I have an approachable personality, but when I need it, this intense, dark colour can mark the distance. For me, on the other hand, black would be too radical. In her wardrobes, the clothes are meticulously sorted by type and colour: white shirts, blue ones of course, jackets. "I can't leave my flat without my dressing room being squared away! Her favourite houses? Prada, Jil Sanders, Ferragamo, Dries Van Noten and... Arket. And because a certain notion of uniform identifies and facilitates life, his winter look declines jumpers with navy blue round collars, in cotton, wool or cashmere depending on the weather, flannel jackets and three-quarter coats, because the man is already whole. "For most people they are just jumpers, but for me there are a thousand variations, shades and subtleties. He has his white shirts made to measure, with different collar heights, but he doesn't have much choice: Pieterjan literally has a long arm.

Brussels

He is fluent in Dutch and French and also speaks English. He is cut out for city life, shaped by the poetry of great travellers. "Here you can be anonymous in the most positive sense. To understand, you probably have to come from a small town. I chose an environment where you can recreate a village life or decide to make yourself invisible. Wherever you go, there's always something happening, a new initiative to discover. I like the quality of life in Brussels, compared to what you would have in Paris. We're only one or two hours from all the major European capitals, which is ideal: I travel as often as possible, and I make many short trips to Italy and Portugal, to the less touristy, more authentic regions of the South. In Brussels, you can meet all kinds of people, really meet them. At a restaurant terrace, you can bond with surreal personalities, living memories of art and Belgium, just by asking for a fire. It's rare, inspiring and precious. This city has a hybrid richness. Pieterjan, himself transverse in his uninhibited elegance, mature in a slender teenage body, grabs his deep blue jacket, and dives back into the stirrings of Brussels that call to him.