Excerpt: Ann Demeulemeester. Resort 2026 - Lookbook

 

"Stefano Gallici continues to impress, and he is very much showing how a Creative Director, with a massive responsibility in reinvigorating a fraught brand name, can begin to find that momentum, and Gallici is certainly holding his own for the iconic Ann Demeulemeester signature label.  Playing with those appealing 1970s doom stoner looks, and vampiric overtures, he has been able to imprint a template onto the Ann Demeulemeester's gothic aesthetic, whilst defining an original take on why we all very much like the darker side of fashion.  Which, even in its metaphorical context, has the curse on the Ann Demeulemeester fashion brand, finally been lifted?  Did Gallici clear the restless spirits from the label?  As its reboot after Sébastien Meunier left in 2020, has very much misaligned.  Until Gallici settled it down, gently placing it back into its stalwart fixture.

Where the subtle is being replaced with a more lasting impression, and after Gallici's galvanic Fall 2025 collection for Paris Fashion Week, willingly projecting a renewed take on Demeulemeester's early runway shows of the 1990s, when she was one of the first designers to set a precedence for the 2000s avant garde trend, which petered out in 2018, and she later retired in 2020.  But, as mentioned, Gallici has pushed into all back into place, with his original take on Demeulemeester's goth romanticism, which I haven't seen for a long time, that being the early/mid 1970s edgy looks which have surely been missed by a many design teams, sourcing the past for ideas.  The proto-doom rock groups, fans, groupies, occult, witchcraft cults of the 1970s, where the 'dark' hippies did there thing; acid trips, peyote, desert car trips into the unknown, doomsday rituals, Tarot card readings with your favorite witch.  Celebrating the coming thermonuclear apocalypse, whilst fucking under the stars..."

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(A. Glass 2025)

Full review: chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/2025/06/ann-demeulemeester-resort-2026-lookbook.html 

Pre - Fall 2026 review soon.