“Shine your light”. This was the quiet prompt of Ann Demeulemeester, as written on the small black boxes given at the entrance to her menswear show at the Couvent des Cordeliers on Saturday, June 26th. Inside the box? A black metal torch, and “Ann Demeulemeester (Men) Spring Summer 2011“. Ann’s wish was granted, as perfect white circles of light bounced around the 16th century convent.

The defilé began with a grinding industrial soundtrack, with those same light halos’ recreated with fixed spots dotted down the runway. Models emerged head-to-toe in blinding white, shining under the spots with a clinical brightness. Ann’s formula of deconstructed layers held a new restriction in a uniform of precise, slim jackets and trousers held close to the body with buckled straps or a wide cotton cummerbund.

Drained of all colour, each silhouette felt surgical with sleeveless gilets and coats with a nehru collar, reminiscent of dental scrubs. Breastplates were worn over bare skin or peeped out under blazers, as a soft interpretation of fencing armour. Even the fabrics held a stark, laboratory quality – with a parachute nylon parka held tight under a buckled cotton harness, knee-high boots or velcro sneakers in hard white leather.

As the last streak of white exited the runway some applause began, at a moment’s hesitation of a rather hasty finish. The music however continued, and suddenly another boy stepped into the light in an inky black replica of the very first outfit of the show. In solemn file every look returned in solid black, with soft black leather contrasting the opening of white cotton. It was an intelligent u-turn, one that spoke both an uneasy conceit to the immediate audience and a grander statement of conflict and expectation in her narrative.

“I wanted to see what would happen, things look quite different. It’s a different emotion.” – Ann Demeulemeester.