Cleverly manipulating trends and classic silhouettes, Ann Demeulemeester presents a modern interpretation of 19th Century tailoring for Fall 2012. The collection is dominated by an ombré gradient effect, seen across stains, stripes and herringbone prints that extend up the legs of trousers or across the chest and shoulders of structured jackets, tailcoats and knitwear. Full suiting, elongated silhouettes and tapered collars recall Demeulemeester’s own inspiration for the collection; French boy-poet, Arthur Rimbaud, offering an avant-garde take on the Decadent movement.
Despite Rimbaud’s presence in both her Spring 2012 and Fall 2012 collections, Demeulemeester’s representations of the French poet are strikingly different. In contrast to Fall 2012’s romantic aesthetic, Spring emphasized a relaxed vision inspired by Rimbaud’s self-exile to Africa, subtly evident in her neutral palette and exaggerated layering of vests, fringe or tunics cut in lightweight silk.