In the world of A, our contributors continue to astound with their stunning work in the realms of fashion, art, music and wider creative culture. Ann Demeulemeester is one such talent who has remained at the periphery of our universe, as a constant force carving her signature romanticism since the early 1980s. Ann’s label is housed under BVBA 32, the same umbrella as A#3′s Haider Ackermann, and based in Antwerp she continues to work in her atelier designed by Georges Baines in 1992 – attached to Belgium’s only Le Corbusier home, ‘Guiette House’. The natural world, anthropology, literature and music inspire Ann to continue her mens and womenswear with a studied and intellectual flair coupled with an emotional narrative.

Returning to her preferred venue of the Couvent des Cordeliers in the 6th arrondisement of Paris, Ann’s Fall Winter 2010 show was once again placed somewhere between heaven and earth, as girls weaved between the tall wooden columns that reach skyward in the 15th century refectory.

The collection took a hard edge, amping up the fluid tailoring from summer with an elaborate array of heavy accessories that banished minimalism in favour of exotic decoration. Little needs to be commented upon her silhouette, a long slender shape that Ann has quietly honed for two decades, but it is rather her reinterpretation with a superb eye for intricate detail which deserves comment.

As such we saw her loose wrapped coats and trenches sliced at the sleeves into capes, ankle-length silk skirts split to the hip and closed with hooks, and wool or leather paperbag trousers worn high at the waist and wrapped with multiple straps. Working almost exclusively in black, Ann cut the darkness with splashes of deep red and a light camel in rich shiny leathers, shaved fur and textured wools.

Stand-out details included mastic vermillion leather outerwear and the iridescent red and green coque feathers that crept down leather gloves and circled the necks of jackets. Ropes of plaited leather and chains were lavishly draped across the shoulders and hips, like ceremonial armour for a modern warrior. Heavy metals featured both as garments and jewellery, with a waistcoat cut from silver glomesh, thick cuffs locked to the wrists like bondage hardware, and fine chain tassels hanging as long pendants.

The looks were accompanied by a pointed platform stiletto in glossy treated patent leather, ridged along the toe echoing the ‘creeper’ style of East London punks. Hair was gelled into hard, sharply parted sections, and make-up artist Rudi Cremers created stunning feathered eyebrows:
“I wanted a porcelain look with shine elements to pick up on the glossy leather in the collection. It’s not radically new feeling for demeulemeester but this season we’ve focused on the brow and brought them sweeping to the outside rather than brushed up.”

The lingering essence of the show was razor sharp luxury poised under the butcher’s knife. Utilitarian hardware became covetable and precious with Ann’s deft touch, and trendy finishes in leather and fur seemed timeless when cut in the mutable shapes and sleek silhouettes that keep her loyal followers coming back for more. When dissected piece by piece, Ann’s collections prove to attract both young and old with her balance of the fantastical and the practical, and it seems this is one ‘trend’ that looks like enduring for many years to come.