Ann Demeulemeester is Antwerp’s elven queen of spartan, sensual garments – clothes that whisper a dark and dreamy fairytale of opposites: love and war, excess and restraint, uniform and individuality. Too often her world may be viewed through a smoky lens, seen as a place of shadow and gloom in which only the darkest mediaeval and renaissance notes of her collections – their classical allusions in literature, music, art and costume – are evident.

In her contribution to Haider Ackermann’s A#3, Ann shows a touching and personal collection of polaroid images, with this view contradicted by the woman herself, as she lifts the supposed ‘gloom’ and reveals a light, fresh and unequivocally human aesthetic. Blooming flowers, verdant gardens, tendrils of flaming red curls, clear blue skies and candid young faces feature among the subjects of her photos – and if a shadow is cast, it is refracted through cut crystal vases or through bedroom blinds on rumpled white bedlinen.

Taken over a period of eight years, the images retain a solid coherence, with her vision played out in monochrome and vibrant colour, with ample gothic symbolism (crosses, candles, the Moon) contrasted by lush, contemporary scenery.