UNEXPECTED TRANSITION: Ann Demeulemeester Bows Out

In perhaps the week's most surprising news, Belgian fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester has announced that she is leaving the company that bears her name. From all indications, her departure is amicable, and not the result of some kind of disagreement with the label's management. In 2005, the designer sold a controlling interest in her business to Anne Chapelle who had been working in the company since 1994. Chapelle also holds a similar stake in rising designer Haider Ackermann's brand. The two are run as separate ventures.

In a handwritten statement released yesterday, Demeulemeester says that she has achieved her dream of "having a voice in fashion", and that her label is an "adult brand with its own identity and legacy that is able to continue growing without me." One last collection under her direction for men and women will be shown this coming February, and, presumably, future lines will be created by the team she has left in place. No designated creative director has been named. 

It sounds like, much to the disappointment of her many fans, Demeulemeester has simply said all she has to say with clothes, and it has been quite a lot. As one of the "Antwerp Six" she brought attention to belgian designers in the 1980s along with Dries Van Noten, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, Marina Yee and Walter Van Beirendonck by showing their collections together in Paris as a group. Demeulemeester developed a dark, moody, and widely admired signature that ably encompassed hard edged, rock and roll looks as well as lighter, more romantic styles. Singer Patti Smith was a particularly potent inspiration who occasionally collaborated with the designer herself. While many might ascribe the current craze for biker jackets and heavy boots to Hedi Slimane's Fall collection for Saint Laurent, Demeulemeester has been consistently offering such items for years.

She ended her public statement by writing, "I'm a happy and fulfilled person ready to create new challenges in life," and signing with a single X representing a kiss. Fashion will surely miss her, but she leaves the door open to the possibility that we may yet from her in some other way. We'll be waiting.

Ann Demeulemeester Exits Fashion (WWD)
View her farewell letter after the jump

 

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