It smells like mystery here. He begins by playing with confusion, between spice and citrus, with clove, cumin, cinnamon, lemon and bergamot as a wake-up call. But things quickly become complicated with a script twist with a narcotic effect: the May rose (the Provence rose, the cabbage rose, the one from the old gardens) and the jasmine with the leather infused in birch oil are quite engaging. The finish is traca, patchouli, vetiver and sandalwood leaving an intriguing trail. If you have ever wondered what the smell of freedom is, the answer could very well be this. Answers by A and has been formulated/distilled by Ann Demeulemeester. And, yes, it has its own.
10 years ago now (it was this November), the Belgian designer said goodbye to her eponymous brand and, incidentally, to a career of almost three decades in fashion. It was a voluntary, conscious withdrawal, in search of new avenues of creative expression. So here we have one of the most revered and cult figures since she hit the headlines in 1986, as part of the legend known as the Antwerp Six, composed and without a brand, but launching a perfume under her name. . The first of her name. “It’s very easy: now I’m prepared, I knew exactly what I wanted,” she answers over the phone. “I am happy and excited, because it was a dream that I could never fulfill. It’s not just that I worked like a donkey, from morning to night, with no time to think about anything other than the next collection, but I also find it difficult to delegate. My problem is that I always want to be in control. Besides, I thought someone would knock on my door and say, ‘Hey, can we make a perfume together?’ But it never happened.”
Better late, finally someone called. It happened in 2020, when Italian tycoon Claudio Antonioli took over the Ann Demeulemeester brand to further the glory of his new creative-business luxury incubator, Dreamers Factory, after selling the conglomerate New Guards Group, home of Off-White, Palm, to Farfetch. Angels, Heron Preston and Alanui, for 600 million euros. The operation, the amount of which has not been disclosed, included the acquisition of the intellectual property and exploitation rights of the name, in addition to the collection archive, the Antwerp flagship store and even the Paris showroom. What he couldn’t buy, though, was Demeulemeester herself. “I politely insisted that I return, but my chapter in fashion is closed. Another thing is that I am interested in occasionally participating in other types of enriching adventures for the firm, because it is good for them and for me. Then he threw down the gauntlet to me, asking if I would be willing to create a fragrance. How could I refuse! ”She says.
The designer (today of furniture, ceramics and household items/decorative objects) says that Antonioli has given her carte blanche and, better yet, respectful priority treatment. “It is not just another project, in the sense of using my name as mere commercial support, but rather a creative exercise that involves and appeals to me personally,” she alleges. For the record, the inside of the case—white canvas, like the house’s trademark packaging—hides a small portrait of her, photographed by her husband, Patrick Robyn, in 1992. The graphic/visual design is the work of her son , Victor Robyn. The installation with which the fragrance was presented to the world in the Antwerp boutique last September also remained in the family. More commitment, impossible. And although she admits that she didn’t spend much time in the lab either, she did work hand in hand with Italian perfumers in composing the formula. “I have my knowledge. Years ago I studied all kinds of ingredients at the Osmothèque of Versailles [el mayor archivo de aromas del mundo] and spent time in Grasse, the French birthplace of perfume. But the truth is that I have only been guided by instinct,” she explains. And he emphasizes the organic nature of the ingredients: “I kept wondering where the fascination with a scent lies, which ones might be intriguing, sensual or seductive. And it turns out that most of them are in nature. I recognize many of them from my own garden. I wanted a wake-up call like ‘Hey, this smell is familiar to me’, but that immediately drags you to the heart of the perfume, dual, the luminosity of May rose and jasmine in contrast with leather, vetiver, patchouli that lead to dark territory.” Identified with a certain poetic romanticism and punk intellectuality, Demeulemeester’s aesthetic has never escaped the label of dark. There’s a reason she happens to be the most emotional of the Antwerp Six, that group of Belgian creators who revolutionized the way of thinking, making and understanding fashion in the nineties, putting the concept before the product.
In that sense, A would be the distillate of that gothic-expressionist style, bottled like a genius in a kind of thick glass column that, depending on how you look at it, is all light or shadow. “Inside, there is nature. Out, culture”, Without gender. “I just hope I have created something new, non-existent. That was my goal,” concedes the creator, also aware of the timing of the launch: “It may seem strange, because the brand has just gone through a complicated moment of creative change. It’s like he needs to pull me back to find his way again.” Regarding Ludovic’s abrupt departure from Saint Sernin, in May (less than a year in the creative direction), she prefers not to comment. “The only thing I can say is that if something doesn’t work, it’s better to stop. “Anyway, it’s something that doesn’t concern me,” she says. “I have already dedicated 40 years of my life to fashion. “I think it’s time I was allowed to do something more.”
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