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Nina Ricci and Anne de Millemeester unveiled a vision of their newly installed designs at Paris Fashion Week this weekend. But while both brands employ young, social-media-savvy creatives with gender-fluid sensibilities, the missions they face couldn’t be more different.
By Nina Ricci, Spanish perfume and fashion group Puig said it chose Harris Reid to bring a “bold, daring, explosive” new attitude to the small Parisian brand founded in 1931. The fragrance’s image, the brand’s main sales driver, will be considered a success whether the ready-to-wear project takes off or not.
In Ann Demeulemeester, on the other hand, it’s all about the clothes: Ludovic de Saint Cernin is tasked with bringing fresh energy to the fashion collections of a 40-year-old brand, whose founder still looms large with a small-but-loyal following. .
Expectations were high for Nina Ricci’s debut in Harris Reid. The London-based American-born designer is only 26 years old, but has been making the case for gender-fluid and inclusive aesthetics for years. While still a student at Central Saint Martins, Reed’s flashy shirts and skin-tight tailoring helped Harry Styles become the most visible proponent of gender-neutral dressing since David Bowie. In the year In 2020, he made a dress for the player on the cover of US Vogue, pushing non-binary gender expressions into the mainstream.
Reid’s own line is a craft affair, offering a small selection of demi-couture designs each season. So while fans of the boisterous reformer were happy to see him get a more stable gig, followers of Nina Ricci’s journey (Reed is his fifth creative director in 15 years) were eager to see how the gender-fluid designer could make a new shift. On a brand associated with a feminine, mid-century look of femininity.
On Friday, Redd made her debut alongside Precious Lee in a polka-dot tulle gown adorned with a giant bow, in what appears to be the first time the plus-size model has opened a Paris show for the luxury brand. The designer said his aim was to “rewrite what femininity looks like in Paris”. With towering platform shoes, big hats and circle dresses, he dialed back the tone on traditionally feminine signatures, celebrating their performance side with an approach that demanded drag and ballroom culture.
As a giant lampshade dress negotiated a narrow runway past flying saucer-shaped hats, the event at times looked more like a scene from a campy Netflix series than an actual Paris show. But while there was room for refinement and refinement, the somewhat cartoonish effect wasn’t a bad thing. While Nina Ricci is trying to carve out a niche for herself in a crowded market, Reid seems focused on delivering bold looks that can light up Instagram and the red carpet.
Owner Puig has little to lose by taking a risk on Reed: Richie’s “Nina” fragrance was the 30th best-selling perfume in France in the NPD 2021 market share rankings, but failed to crack the top-40 list in any other market. This contrasts with the group’s high-end international fragrances for brands such as Paco Rabanne (1 Million, Invictus), Carolina Herrera (Good Girl) and Jean Paul Gaultier (Le Male).
A few business items were mixed into the oversize ensemble – a long satin suit, a pair of jeans, a crepe bandeau top, some sunglasses. The company hopes to sell some clothes. But an appearance on the Oscars red carpet may be a better test of success.
The task at Ann Demeulemeester is in some ways more direct – the brand is about clothes. But Ludovic de Saint Cernin’s mission comes with its own set of challenges.
The man Ann Demeulemeester still deeply respects in fashion more than a decade after she stepped away from the industry. But the link with Demeulemeester, the brand that recently moved from Antwerp to Milan under new owner Claudio Antonioli, is less secure.
For De Saint Cernin, pushing too many codes from the label — known for body-hatted, crystal-encrusted collections aimed mostly at queer boys in sunny climes — risks eroding industry support for the Demeulemeester brand. However, no matter how honest the outlet, the loyal clan members who previously ran the business are unlikely to be happy with anyone but her.
For his debut show, the 32-year-old designer delved into the Demulemeister archives, dressing himself in dozens of looks to live up to the brand (like Reed, he says, he’s a fan of gender-fluid dressing).
At Saturday’s show, de Saint-Cernin featured mostly on-brand wearables to keep retailers and their customers engaged. The hip-slung mermaid dresses were proof of common ground between the pop feminist vision of de Saint Cernin in its namesake line and the poetic approach of the “Antwerp Six” maison.
But there was more flash, more energy to the issue than its founder offered in bohemian goth-romanticism. The style had less drape and skin coverage than usual (topless models who held their breasts felt out of place).
Still, de Saint-Cernin’s first move was to kiss the ring—a sensible first step. Now that he has shown that he understands Anne de Millemeester’s story, his next step will focus on amplifying its message and renewing its foundation.
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