On Wednesday, almost exactly a year after she retired from the label that bears her name and the entire fashion scene, Ann Demeulemeester, the 54-year-old Belgian designer much beloved of black-trouser-suit-collecting cerebral romantics everywhere, made a reappearance of sorts to sign copies of her new 1,010-page book at Barneys New York.
She seemed quite chipper about it.
She was wearing a black jacket, black sweater, black trousers, a black hat and red lipstick, and was accompanied by her longtime collaborator Patti Smith, who wrote the introduction to the book and was also wearing black (jacket, sweater), over a big white shirt. Both women sat behind a big table autographing their tome for a long line of equally black-clad acolytes who were hopping from foot to foot and whispering in glee at the sight of the designer.
“I feel free!” Ms. Demeulemeester said, while scribbling. “It is the first time I don’t feel like I have a rope around my neck” — an interesting, and perhaps instructive, way to describe the situation of having your own brand and having to show twice a year.
The book, published by Rizzoli, is, natch, black, with a lot of white space on each page perfectly framing photographs that chronicle Ms. Demeulemeester’s 30 years in fashion. It has been her main project since she stepped down from her house (her brand is now designed by a team she put in place led by Sébastien Meunier, and continues to show in Paris).
While it is quite thick, however, it is regular book length and width — it’s not one of those glossy megaliths that require their own coffee table — which makes it something of an elegant surprise. It’s pretty much her aesthetic in magnum opus form.
Now, Ms. Demeulemeester said, she wasn’t sure what she would do next, as “there are so many possibilities.” One thing, however, was certain: “Creative people don’t stop being creative just because they change their situation in life.”
Indeed, a fellow fashion refugee, the Austrian designer Helmut Lang, who retired from his label in 2005, has reinvented himself as an artist on Long Island, and Jil Sander, who left her label multiple times, most recently last year, is a famous gardener.
In any case, Ms. Demeulemeester had a message to send to any designers who were feeling worn down by the system, and considering stepping off the hamster wheel and getting some perspective.
Life after fashion? “It’s fantastic.”