Ann Demeulemeester's Soiled Chic .
From Fashion Wire Daily .
By Godfrey Deeny
Everything was a tad wrecked, aged, worn or just splattered with paint in Ann Demeulemester's men’s collection presented Monday in Paris, making for a wonderfully ragged debut men’s show by the Belgium designer.
With Paris experiencing one of those delightfully blustery summer mornings that recalled Hemingway’s remark that the city was a moveable feast, the omens seemed positive even before the show began.
Longhaired, poetic models populated Ann’s runway in the ideally chosen Museum of Antoine Bourdelle, a French sculpture whose monumental horses, heroes and splendid old atelier made the ideal backdrop for the collection.
Demeulemeester traditionally shows men’s looks within her women’s shows, but this was the first pure men’s presentation she has staged, allowing one to fully appreciate her singular vision of how us guys should look and behave.
She sees us in suitably lived in power blue cotton dusters, crumpled white jackets, granddad vests worn inside out and beautifully whacked suede jackets cut asymmetrically and with high, often oddly, placed zips. Like with her women’s looks, she accessorizes most looks with trims, strings and, most frequently, with bunches of faux keys, pendants and circles.
Trousers are cut Afghan style, super low in the crotch, and are often just sweat pants, truncated half way down the calf. Shoes come in soiled pinks, miss-dyed whites or painted every which way like the favorite sneakers of a Turner prize-winning artist. We doubt whether many men will favor wearing boots and cropped pants displaying six inches of bare leg, like Ann showed them. But we see a large audience for Demeulemeester’s unique aesthetic.
“Romantic anarchy,” was the designer’s lapidary description when FWD congratulated her post-show.
Though many of our provincial relatives still find her name hard to pronounce, never mind spell, for most of us in the world of style Demeulemeester is viewed as one of the ten best designers in women’s fashion. Judging from this spring summer 2006 men’s collection, Ann is destined to achieve the same status in men’s wear.
From Fashion Wire Daily .
By Godfrey Deeny
Everything was a tad wrecked, aged, worn or just splattered with paint in Ann Demeulemester's men’s collection presented Monday in Paris, making for a wonderfully ragged debut men’s show by the Belgium designer.
With Paris experiencing one of those delightfully blustery summer mornings that recalled Hemingway’s remark that the city was a moveable feast, the omens seemed positive even before the show began.
Longhaired, poetic models populated Ann’s runway in the ideally chosen Museum of Antoine Bourdelle, a French sculpture whose monumental horses, heroes and splendid old atelier made the ideal backdrop for the collection.
Demeulemeester traditionally shows men’s looks within her women’s shows, but this was the first pure men’s presentation she has staged, allowing one to fully appreciate her singular vision of how us guys should look and behave.
She sees us in suitably lived in power blue cotton dusters, crumpled white jackets, granddad vests worn inside out and beautifully whacked suede jackets cut asymmetrically and with high, often oddly, placed zips. Like with her women’s looks, she accessorizes most looks with trims, strings and, most frequently, with bunches of faux keys, pendants and circles.
Trousers are cut Afghan style, super low in the crotch, and are often just sweat pants, truncated half way down the calf. Shoes come in soiled pinks, miss-dyed whites or painted every which way like the favorite sneakers of a Turner prize-winning artist. We doubt whether many men will favor wearing boots and cropped pants displaying six inches of bare leg, like Ann showed them. But we see a large audience for Demeulemeester’s unique aesthetic.
“Romantic anarchy,” was the designer’s lapidary description when FWD congratulated her post-show.
Though many of our provincial relatives still find her name hard to pronounce, never mind spell, for most of us in the world of style Demeulemeester is viewed as one of the ten best designers in women’s fashion. Judging from this spring summer 2006 men’s collection, Ann is destined to achieve the same status in men’s wear.