The Antwerp Six designer Ann Demeulemeester returned to her eponymous label after an eight-year hiatus, with the Spring Summer 22 collection shown in her presence for the first time at Lycèe Carnot.
The news of the designer’s return (as an adviser) came at the end of August this year, when the brand was getting ready to reopen its flagship store in Antwerp. But today’s collection marked a new beginning for the brand, defining it as “A new light, a new energy, a new era: a celebration of identity and attitude, dynamism and movement.” in the shownotes.
The Spring Summer 22 show was definitely a return to Ann Demeulemeester’s roots. Soft tailoring, mysterious faces hiding under black hats, oversized blazers with open cuffs displaying the white shirt sleeves under, simple vests, high waisted fluid skirts… all decorated with loose straps of thin fabrics to give some movement to the black and white palette.
The collection was quintessentially Ann Demeulemeester. The image of the effortlessly cool, mysterious girl you always want to meet. Add some flowers to her back pockets, let her hair flow, mark her face with a signature and dress her in some fluid silhouettes… never too tight nor too loose. This was definitely a woman we had missed seeing on the runway.
