Sebastien Meunier

I AM RED WITH LOVE was the statement that perfectly captured the mood of Sébastien Meunier‘s spring-summer 2017 offering at Ann Demeulemeester. We’ve seen romantic guys at Haider Ackermann and Pigalle earlier in Paris, and Demeulemeester man is also utterly into poetic love. “Rebel in love,” the designer mused backstage. “Love is a colorful emotion for me. And we can say also I am black with love. But we blush and we become a bit red when we are in love, so there is all of that. I wanted to give something that was a bit shy—emotion, charming emotion.” Meunier feels like at home after a few seasons spent at Demeulemeester, and he uses Ann’s signatures with grace – light, satin shirts covered with layers of feather pendants and charms, military jackets in black, and sheer tank-tops with stitched, red-thread slogans. The chunky knits looked impressive, too, oozing with hearty-arty slouchiness.

Sebastien Meunier, whose the second season at Ann Demeulemeester feels like a vocabulary of the house’s heritage, was shown yesterday at Paris Fashion Week. The clothes were black & white, mesh and romantic fabrics were seen. The models had those punk-ish hair, but mostly it all felt silent and ethereal. In other words, it feels like if Ann was still present in the house, but with lack of progress. Beacaues that’s metaphorically true- Sebastien uses old house codes and hits, just to make it all more “commercial” and too Demeulemeester. The collection is not bad- but it feels like if the new creative director didn’t really try that hard as he should to make this Belgian brand be loved and respected. Hope the next season will be better…