LACES, LILIES AND THE WHISPER OF SKIN: ANN DEMEULEMEESTER SS25 AFTER-SHOW PARTY
words by MARIE-PAULINE CESARI
photography OCTAVE DE B.
As Stefano Gallici introduced his SS25 collection for Ann Demeulemeester, the atmosphere inside the show’s venue, near Gare Montparnasse, was drenched in the smell of lilies. The collection felt like a tender dialogue between past and present, imbued with a dark poesy that had been delicately painted in white. There was something intimate about the way the attendees carried these blossoms with them after the show, a living trace of this moment that lingered in their hands and hearts as they filtered out of the venue.
This season, Stefano seemed more assured in layering his personal voice into the designs. He is now a force confidently stepping into his own, ready to pave his way in the Maison, under the kind eye of Ann Demeulemeester herself, who attends the show season after season.
Her legacy remains a silent yet profound presence in the garments, but now, Stefano has started to weave his autobiography into the lace, soft pink silks, transparency and all the layered interplays that let the heritage breathe, like the skin through the collection.
Around 10pm the crowd moved to Le Carmen, Pigalle's neo-baroque gem, a venue once home to the creative soul of Georges Bizet. The building’s history is palpable, with its romantic, bourgeois air perfectly suited for an Ann Demeulemeester night. The club, with its timeless walls and atmospheric charm, seemed almost tailor-made for this after-show party, already the cradle of the previous season’s one. It was a night where the past danced with the present, just like in Stefano’s collection.
Lace was everywhere, on bodies, in conversations, in the air, and skin was the quiet star of the evening. It mirrored the collection: soft, open, a little vulnerable but undoubtedly beautiful. The party was as much a reflection of the show as it was a continuation. People adorned in pieces from the house’s archives mingled effortlessly with the models and creatives. The feather tops fluttering around the room were just one of the many nods to the House’s unmistakable DNA.
Stefano Gallici observed quietly, his wide, discreet gaze taking in the scene he had created both on the runway and off. There is always a serenity in his presence. But beneath that calm exterior lies the mind of a creator in constant evolution.
‘The Dialogue of Another Day,’ the name of the SS25 collection, could not have been more fitting. It felt like an ongoing conversation, a continual weaving and unwinding of thoughts and textures, where nothing is ever truly finished, only transformed.
As the night unfolded, the sounds of Yves Tumor, The Garden, Kim Peers, Nausea Twins, and Sheetnoise filled Le Carmen, like a living, breathing extension of the show, a place where lace and lilies could linger a little longer.
