Sofie Peelman on creating spaces and personal style

Sophie Peelman (@peelvrouw) loves to create. During her Architecture studies, she started her own label, Sternum. She designed handmade jewellery with a minimalistic and industrial vibe. Nowadays, she’s mainly focused on her work as an interior architect.

However she was trained as an architect, she’s now aiming her attention towards in-house spaces. After she got carte blanche to redesign an interior, she quit her job to focus on private homes and retail projects. She creates designs for every type of room, with a lot of attention for decoration and colours.

“In my opinion, you should show flexibility towards clients. It’s their room, you want to propose something that fulfils their wishes. On the other hand, I have the feeling people are often overwhelmed by the massive amount of images on Pinterest and Instagram. I help them create something they like, resulting in a timeless, personal and contemporary design.”

We also notice a timeless approach in Sophie’s personal style. Her wardrobe is sober, showing a lot of black. “Black matches almost everything. I love to start out with a basis and supplement it with details giving extra cachet. My more colourful or peculiarly-shaped garments create contrast in my clothing.”

“My garments need to have a long lifespan. I love vintage and I often have the feeling that fabrics and designs used to be more qualitative. That’s why my wardrobe for a great part consists out of second-hand clothing. I try to avoid impulsive purchases and choose to invest in timeless pieces instead. All my garments are worn for at least five years. I constantly try to reinvent my closet and keep things affordable. I simply dump all my clothes on my bed and try on new combinations. Might sound a bit pubescent, but it works for me.”

Sophie also likes to invest in Belgian fashion. “I’m a big fan of Sofie Claes, who works for Haider Ackermann, a label clearly investing in androgynous yet elegant silhouettes. I hope she’ll launch her own collection again soon! Façon Jacmin is also a brand I admire. Normally, I’m not very keen on denim, but they are able to make me buy it all the same.” That’s because the clothing is very comfortable.

“Comfort is important to me. I love heels, but I never wear them - just because they don’t feel good. I refused to take part in the sneaker trend for a long time, but I caved once I realised how enormously practical they are.

My Lies Mertens bag is also an example of a useful accessory: instead of cramming it with stuff, the CMMC invites you to think about what you exactly need. It’s the perfect bag for your essentials. Using the adjustable straps, it’s handy to wear on a bike, but you can wear it on your shoulder all the same for a more sophisticated look.”

The CMMC is one of the many pieces in Sophie’s wardrobe proving her predilection for local brands. “This design is clean and simple, although the colour makes it special. You’ll often see me sporting wide pants and a cropped sweater, or one of my jumpsuits. This green bag then is the crowning piece.”

Sophie clearly loves beautiful things. It was the reason she started studying architecture and interiors in the first place. “I want to create things. Materiality and detail are essential in that process.” We can see those two things are being translated into her personal style.