(NEW YORK) Ann Demeulemeester is bidding adieu to her namesake label, which she founded in 1985 with her photographer husband Patrick Robyn. Demeulemeester’s first show was held in a Parisian art gallery in 1992 and she debuted her menswear line in 1996. Demeuelemeester is known for her androgynous avant-garde collections and is considered to be part of “The Antwerp Six”, a group of like-minded Belgian designers including Dries Van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, Dirk Van Saene, Marina Yee, and Walter Van Bierendonck, all of whom studied at Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts and made their mark in London in the Eighties.
According to WWD, the announcement came via a handwritten letter from the designer that was scanned and sent as a PDF. ” A new time is coming both for my personal life and the brand Ann Demeulemeester,” the designer said. “[The brand] has its own identity and legacy that is able to continue growing without me.” The men’s and women’s Fall 2014 collections will be shown together in Paris on January 27th.
