The fashion label Ann Demeulemeester changed hands, returned to the catwalk in October with a new creative team and will be represented as a special guest at the Pitti Uomo fashion fair in Florence in January. The designer Ann Demeulemeester herself resigned in 2013, but says she is satisfied with the brand’s new course.
Ann Demeulemeester between the future and the past
For a while, things didn’t go so well for the Ann Demeulemeester label. Since the designer left in 2013, the brand had been looking for new energy – without much success. Artistic director Sebastien Meunier, a Demeulemeester veteran, tried to appeal to a younger audience but, apart from a small fan base, was never really convincing. In addition, the brand had lost its traditional clientele in recent years, who often felt that the quality had deteriorated.
Furthermore, timing just wasn’t good for the label. Demeulemester’s dark, romantic goth essence collided with the garish, poppy streetwear of the past decade.
So the brand’s change in leadership in 2020 didn’t come as a surprise. However, the fact that the Belgian label is now Italian – and designed in Milan – could pique your curiosity. The company, which now belongs to the entrepreneur Claudio Antonioli, thanked Meunier for his proven services even before the takeover. Since then, the line has been designed by a dedicated team.
Antwerp flagship store renovated
The change of course was approved by Ann Demeulemeester herself. The designer is also involved in the label in an advisory capacity again, although she will no longer design any collections.
“We have an agreement with Ann for the next ten years,” confirmed Claudio Antonioli to FashionUnited in September. “I’d rather not say too much about that. There can be a little secret around it. “
“I see it as my job to enrich the DNA in new areas and other forms,” added Ann Demeulemeester in an email. “Ann Demeulemeester’s style is clear enough. A new team can continue to work without me. “
Patrick Robyn, Demeulemester’s longtime husband and creative partner, was also named by Antonioli. He led the renovation work on the flagship in Antwerp, Demeulemeester’s only remaining store. The shop is located in the southern quarter of the city and is housed in a former seafaring school from the 1860s, where it reopened in September.
“We don’t have a bit of regret or frustration,” said Robyn on a tour of the store, referring to the BVBA 32 sale in 2013. “We achieved our dreams. We are happy with what we have achieved. When we stopped, it didn’t feel like a failure at all. Ms. Chapelle had her own ideas, and of course we also saw that the brand had stumbled into the abyss in recent years. We didn’t like that. At one point, Claudio Antonioli appeared as a kind of deus ex machina. It was something of a salvation for the brand. “
“Ann Demeulemeester has developed into a lifestyle brand”
Claudio Antonioli opened his first own boutique in Milan in 1987. “I sold Ann Demeulemeester back then,” he told FashionUnited via Zoom. “A little later I got to know Ann and Patrick better. I’ve always remained a fan. ”
In the meantime, Antonioli had stores in Milan, Turin, Lugano and Ibiza and Volt, a club in Milan. He was also a co-founder of the New Guards Group (NGG), the group behind labels like Off-White, Palm Angels and Ambush. NGG was sold to e-commerce giant Farfetch a few years ago, and Antonioli himself is no longer involved.
“When I heard that Ann Demeulemeester was for sale,” he said, “I called Ann and Patrick. It seemed like a great opportunity to continue the adventure and get back on track with growth over time. “
Antonioli closed two deals, one of which was the takeover of BVBA 32 from Chapelle, the logistics structure behind the label. He made a deal for the brand name with Demeulemeester and Robyn.
“The name stayed with us back then,” says Robyn. “In the meantime, we also had a license agreement with Serax for porcelain, tableware and lamps. We will continue that too. Mr. Antonioli now has the name Ann Demeulemeester for everything that has to do with fashion. “
“Just buying the company,” said Antonioli, “didn’t interest me. I really wanted to have the name too. I don’t want the brand to change completely. In my opinion, it’s not my brand. I work for Ann Demeulemeester. There is no rush either. But I want to prepare the brand for the future. Fashion is not intended for sixty year olds. Fashion appeals to people in their twenties and thirties, and we want to reach them. With respect for Ann Demeulemeester’s DNA. “
For now there will be no official artistic direction at the head of the design team. “It’s still too early for that,” says Antonioli.
“To be clear, it is not intended that Ann will design clothes again,” said Patrick Robyn shortly before the reopening of the flagship. “Of course I don’t have a crystal ball. The future sometimes makes strange leaps, so who knows. But at the moment there is nothing to suggest that Ann will return as a designer. “
In the Antwerp flagship store, in addition to the clothing collections, Ann Demeulemeester’s tableware, lamps and, soon, furniture are also sold. “We want to show your complete vision, your universe,” says Claudio Antonioli. “Ann Demeulemeester is now a lifestyle brand. That has to be clearly visible in the store. ”If everything goes according to plan, the location should serve as a model for new stores in cities like Paris and Milan in two to three years.
“An emotional moment” for Ann Demeulemeester
In the meantime, the label has returned to the catwalk. After a fashion film in March, a show was held during Paris Fashion Week in October. Olivier Rizzo, known for his work with Raf Simons and Prada, among others, took care of the styling, while Demeulemeester himself was in the front row.
“It was exactly thirty years ago that I gave my first show,” she told FashionUnited afterwards at a chance meeting at Gare du Nord. “Back then I opened it with a piece of clothing that said: Parents, racontez vos rêves à vos enfants. Parents, tell your children your dreams. This text came back now. I was very happy about that. It was a somewhat emotional moment: the first time I was on the other side of the curtain, so to speak. I hadn’t come to Fashion Week since I quit in 2013. “
She continued, “The casting was amazing, the make-up, the styling. I wanted to have a lot of clothes to myself. Also, if you looked closely, and it was possible because the audience was very close to the catwalk, you could see that everything was well done. That was also necessary to get the brand back on track. In the last few years the collections were no longer produced in Italy, but they are now being produced there again, often by manufacturers I used to work with myself. “
‘Special Guest’ for the Pitti Uomo in January
On January 12th, the Ann Demeulemeester label will exhibit at the Pitti Uomo in Florence in the Stazione Leopolda, the disused train station where Raf Simons and Undercover collections, among others, have shown in the past. “We are celebrating the story of Ann Demeulemeester,” says the official invitation. At a lunch in Antwerp, Lapo Cianchi, Pitti’s communications officer, stated that the show would be accompanied by a DJ set for a limited audience. However, the latest wave of Covid-19 could thwart the whole thing.
“We are very pleased that we can bring Ann Demeulemeester to Florence,” said Cianchi. “Pitti has a long tradition when it comes to Belgian fashion: Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, Haider Ackermann, Glenn Martens – not to forget Raf Simons – they have all shown here.”
“We have always loved Ann Demeulemeester’s style, both for her non-conformist approach and for her ability to calmly but firmly find a place on the international scene. The label’s new path, which was taken by a visionary entrepreneur like Claudio Antonioli, is in an ideal dialogue with the founder and her aspirations. We are honored to look back in Florence on a story that began forty years ago, in 1982 (the year Demeulemeester graduated from the Antwerp Academy; the label was founded in 1987, NVDR). The event conceived for the Pitti Uomo 101 is an exchange between different forms of creative expression, with a special focus on the younger generations. It will be a synchronous story between future, present and past. “
In addition to Demeulemeester, Pitti Uomo is also planning special events for the classic men’s labels Caruso and Kiton. The US label Filson will also be there to celebrate its 125th anniversary – and the first collection of a European license agreement with WP Lavori in Corso, the Italian group behind Woolrich, Barbour and Baracuta, among others. The 101st edition of the fair runs from January 11th to 13th. However, it is not included Brunello Cucinelli. The Italian fashion house canceled its participation on Tuesday due to the current Corona situation.
This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk. Translation and editing by: Barbara Russ.