In Paris on Saturday, Ann Demeulemeester's grunge Spring 2025 show was made for rockers. On a flower-lined catwalk in a dark granite venue, creative director Stefano Gallici left a "Wall of References" for perusal at each guest's seat. Within the binding were photographs, including Hidemi Ogata's Blank Jet City, Paul Grund's Blemishes and Glen E. Friedman's Mike Muir & Jim Muir, among others, which served as the inspiration for this season's thesis. Front-row attendees, including Luka Sabbat, Moses, and Richie Shazam, flipped through the book's pages, while an electric guitarist jolted the runway before the show's official commencement. Heads were bopping; heels were clicking, and models imminently stepped out — all on the beat.
Gallici had a few lost-and-found thoughts that informed the collection's mood. Among them were summer's sun-faded clothing, bare chests and denim, Crystal Castles' "Crystal Castle II" and "Rumors" by Fleetwood Mac — all scattered concepts that somehow melded nicely in mode. "This collection came out of this bundle of thoughts and emotions," the designer explained. "I let them flow as they came along, one thing found, another lost. There is lace and there denim, and knit that flies like feathers. There is an elongation and a slouchiness, and the suppleness of tailoring. There are the infinite ways of a neckerchief."
In the cutting room, Gallici crafted a collection that fell partly into fashion's regency genre, with gentlemanly suiting, structured trousers, frilly shirting, ethereal dresses and billowing neck ties — but there was also a smart tinge of punk. Leather vests were draped over tops with delicate capes, while hole-punched T-shirts paired with silky trousers. Overall, the line's eclecticism spoke to how Gallici sees the label: "Ann Demeulemeester, to me, is a mindscape that asks to be built piece by piece: adding, taking away, weaving personal feelings and autobiography into the process, finding and losing, losing and finding."
"Let me dream a bit more," he concluded.
See Ann Demeulemeester's Spring/Summer 2025 collection in the gallery above, and stay tuned to Hypebeast for more Paris Fashion Week coverage.
Click here to view full gallery at Hypebeast
