March 6, 2023 |
Poetic, like an intimate love letter to the house’s founder, Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s Ann Demeulemeester was serene and darkly romantic, each sultry look like an emotionally charged, heartfelt phrase. The words were penned with a feather or a quill, a detail the designer whose house he inherited loves. De Saint Sernin fleshed out feathers, sculpted in leather and worn as a bandeau. One in black, one in white (opening and closing the show), and both paired with a languid bias-cut satin floor length skirt.
Interspersed amongst a really strong proposal of streamlined tailoring, there was a lot of mesh. Rouched, draped and manipulated around the body it appeared, worn by a promenade of scantily clad de Saint Sernin look-alikes – whether this was intentional or not, we don’t know. The chiffon wraparound gowns and sensual undone shirts were all underscored by knee-high stiletto boots, spiky heels and equestrian style stompers.
In place of shirts, the models’ arms were crossed over their bare breasts, which peaked out from underneith faux fur shrugs and capelets in burgundy and aubergine hues.
De Saint Sernin’s binary-breaking, stylistically sex-positive niche has anchored him as a fiercely independent apostle of welcomed skimp. So, by familiarising himself with Demeulemeester‘s output via Rizzoli’s retrospective 2014 book delving into her collections over three decades, and trying on archival looks himself, he resolved to enter into the new creative director role with his right foot forward. The result was a lot of Demeulemeester, a little bit de Saint Sernin. But mostly, it was a tender and respectful ode to the former.
Photography courtesy of Ann Demeulemeester.
