from the Chiasmus archive: March 01, 2019 "ANN DEMEULEMEESTER FALL 2019 RTW – PARIS FASHION WEEK"

 (Images from Vogue.com and wwd.com. The public domain. Used in promotion of the designer.)

Sébastien Meunier for Ann Demeulemeester has delivered such a striking collection for his Fall 2019 showing.  From Gothic overtures (black and white Romantic styles) of past shows, he is finally experimenting with another color that also holds a lingering darkness to its attibutes – Pink.   As discussed in Francesco Scognamiglio's Spring 2019 Couture collection, it is such an underutilized color and when used to represent a darker hue or more crimson idealism within fashion.  It resonates a powerful cue.  So, it is very refreshing to see Meunier moving away from the predictability of the Avant-garde use of black and white achromatics. 

However in saying that, Ann Demeulemeester's projection as a brand is the predominate use of black and white to represent the Gothic feel.  She, before handing the reigns to Meunier, perfected her stylizations within the duality of the colorless, to which Meunier has crafted so well as her predecessor.  And it's great see the mix of darker hue colors, particularly pink, red and purple set against the Ann Demeulemeester style, as a newer dynamic of the brands Gothic and esoteric arrays.

Red and pink of the color spectrum evoke, in humans, an erotic conjuration. The basis for sexual alertness.  As decreed countless times by psychologists, as a precursor to intimacy.  Hence women and men associated with red, either worn as clothing or as accessories – attraction is, apparently, magnified.  For me, the crimson hues of red and pink seen so prolifically with Meunier's collection, infuse the mystic and romanticism, that is a sacred idealism of femininity.  In which he has also attached the cultist appeal, as witches of a fictional esoteric order.  A priestess or oracle, in historical terms some of the outfits remind me of John Collier's (d1934) “Priestess of Delphi” (1891) painting. 

Beautifully flowing silk, dyed into a pink and red crimson wash. Tassels and the ethereal, yet  it also holds an intensely focused collection.  Velvet overlaid onto breezy shirts, suit vests, coats pants with ornamented embroidery.  High priestess, draped style accessories like the knotted waist ropes and hanging feathers.  Linen and fine wool, plunged neck lines. While maintaining an alluring fixture.  The collection moves back and forth from the crimson, creamy whites, into shaper greens, with the brand's black and white ensembles balancing out the collection. Meunier, has cleverly infused the pink and red as the main statement for Ann Demeulemeester's Fall 2019 collection.  Setting down a distinct and memorable showing.

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(A.Glass 2019)