Ann Demeulemeester

This is the second piece I wrote for I.T Post

London is cheering new and established designers as fashion week reaches its zenith in the pouring rain, flashing lights and dense traffic. A constantly evolving whirlwind of enthusiasm can be felt as editors, journalists, bloggers and streetstyle photographers get to work with undiminished vigour. The latest emerging talents are scrutinised and their credibility challenged. Some names will stay and triumph, some will simply be forgotten as quickly as they appeared and others might come out with an impressive amount of support and publicity to the considerable surprise of a lot of people. There are echoes of this in the Henry Holland sensation (authenticity, genuine talent and quality is not what wins him admirers) and it is easy to dismiss him as a kind of marketing tease! I’m still finding it difficult to understand why we would want to put him on a pedestal. I’ll admit that he does have considerable verve and panache, his Twitter updates are highly entertaining but his clothes will leave no impact on the fashion world. It will be interesting to see if he can find ways to stay afloat and produce strong and well-constructed collections instead of his usual stale attempts. Is he actually anxious to join the ranks of real designers? But never underestimate the mind-shifting power of a quite rubbish designer. It’s what led me to think about Ann Demeulemeester. She’s a symbol of leading contemporary Belgian fashion and her signature style will undoubtedly influence subsequent generations of fashion designers, even in a memoryless era like ours. Her clothes are essentially subtle and unusual in its use of details with monochrome colours as its best-known ingredients. I’m a huge fan of her clothes and own a few pieces that will continue to renew a look in years to come thanks to their unique and individual essence. Demeulemeester made her debut on the international scene in 1986 with a London show and has produced fascinating collections ever since. She is still one of our most interesting designers, constantly open to new ways of making clothes, renewing her vision through the exploration of contrasts. She’s a dab hand at texture and surface variety and designs garments with a sure feeling for shapes. You wear her clothes and a feeling of discreet exaltation will overcome you thanks to their matchless combination of timelessness and subtle differentiations of fabrics and lines. She eschews the sensationalism adopted by so many names today. Super fashion stardom is not what interests her and she would rather focus on beautiful romantic tailoring with hints of edginess. Who else has been consistently offering you wonderful pieces? She’s extraordinary and her influence never goes away.
I’ve recently come back from a trip to Belgium and all I can say is that her Antwerp boutique is well worth a visit!