Ann Demeulemeester. Pre-Fall 2026 - lookbook

(Images:  Ann Demeulemeester 2026)

Stefano Gallici maintains his unique take on for the Ann Demeulemeester aesthetic, and yet we all ask;  Has he been able to remove the curse from the Ann Demeulemeester label?  After the iconic goth styled brand name, was caught between an acquisitions via fashion holding companies, and a South Korea conglomerate called Coupang.  Breathing new life into the avant-garde impression of the fashion desiner Ann Demeulemeester's 1990s runway brilliance, would be no easy task, partosulsy after French designer Sébastien Meunier, was ousted after ten years at the helm, and the said trend of risque fashion petered out in 2018.   Gallici has certainly, with his necromantic nouse, carefully communicated with the past, and its resonation, by drawing in new influences from an extensive timeline.  Achieving, stylized turnaround that is both interesting and inspiring.

Very much utilizing the tumultuous 1970s as the template, Gallici's proto-doom rock, cultish appeal, of peace and love disillusion, with war, violence, death and hedonism, the counterculture years of the 70s continued to buffer against neoconservatism and the dreaded spectra of dormant fascism.  Fashion, of course also assisted, mixed with psychedelics, car trips into the unknown, and sex magic. Bohemian chic, merged with goth and witchcraft.  And for Gallici's 2nd Pre-Fall collection for Ann Demeulemeester, he has delivered such a conjuring.

And Pre-Fall 2026, is Gallici's darker, and more brooding lookbook collection to date, siding up to the mid 1970s punk, merging the more tailored looks of CBGBs NYC lower east side grit, with the late Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm Mclaren's 1950s 'Situationist' movement prints.  When major U.S. cities were falling apart, rime was skyrocking, and Russian ad America were a hair away of thermonuclear war.  High tensions, rebellion and discourse were the benchmarks.  And we defied the growing desire for structure and order, with lifestyles, still blessed by the counterculture ethos.  Even though negativity was added to the spell, you dressed teh part, with nonchalant cool. Sex, death and nuclear obliteration.   And we still held the narrative.  

A lesson, so needed today.

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(A.Glass 2026)