Interview: Sven De Potter

Ann Demeulemeester: 'I was born in Kortrijk but we lived in Waregem. I visited Kortrijk a lot, though, because my grandparents lived there on Wijngaardstraat, where they ran a pigeon fancier’s clubhouse-slash-café, 'De Courier Des Colombofiles'. I remember that they had a huge chalkboard on the wall for the results of the pigeon flights. For me, that board was a giant page to draw on: again and again, each day I drew gigantic drawings on it that were allowed to stay there. I was barely 5 years old, but already I felt incredibly proud to have the customers all standing there admiring my work. I also remember that I used to sleep on a little mattress, right next to the pigeons. At night, there were hundreds of pigeons roosting and I would fall asleep listening to their gentle cooing. Magical moments. By the way, I think that my baby portrait is probably still hanging in the maternity centre in Kortrijk, because I was one of the smallest babies ever born there to survive.'

Growing up in Waregem, downtown Kortrijk would seem like the most logical place to explore as a teenager. Did you do that?

Ann Demeulemeester: ‘Not really. Although I did once have a summer job there, at a tearoom. I would go to Kortrijk to visit my grandmother: an elegant lady who would sometimes take me out and pamper me. I was seven and I looked up to her immensely. She bought me lovely things: a cheerful umbrella, a pretty dress... But now? I haven’t been back to Kortrijk in years. And not very much in Waregem either. I just don’t have the time. I’m also not really a city person: if I have any free time, I would rather go out to the country. The same goes for Antwerp: I do my work there, but you’re not likely to see me strolling through the city; I just don’t care for it that much.'

You have lived in Antwerp for your entire adult life. How much ‘polder clay’ do you still have on your boots?

Ann Demeulemeester: ‘Quite a bit, I think. Flemish roots stay with you. You can’t shake them. Your childhood years determine so much about what you become later... keeping your feet on the ground, having integrity, treating people fairly... those are values that I grew up with. In the milieu in which I currently work, I often notice that I have a different approach than others.
The Western Flanders work ethic has certainly come in handy as well. Western Flanders people are hard workers and as a child, I was already expected to help out. Now I feel guilty if I’m not working. It can take a while to come to terms with that.’

That’s true, but tell that to a Western Flanders émigré who has been able to harness that work ethic to carve out a place among the top designers, which has also earned her honorary citizenship of Waregem...

Ann Demeulemeester: (laughing) ‘Yes, you’re right. I was very touched by that, you know. I thought it was really sweet that people have been keeping track of my progress for so long: I have been gone for 30 years and then suddenly there’s this honorary title. They organized an entire event around it, pulled out all the stops. My parents were proud as could be. Me too, of course, my portrait is now hanging up there with some true greats – along with Cardinal Jan Schotte, cyclist Briek Schotte and Baron Casier – in the town hall. That’s quite a feeling.'

From Waregem to the city of Antwerp. It’s hard to imagine that wasn’t a huge culture shock...

Ann Demeulemeester: 'Well, quite the contrary in fact. I thought it was fantastic, because my world was suddenly so much bigger. I needed that. And I had such a hunger for culture. The school in Antwerp was just the greatest thing. And developing your potential is a lot easier in a big city than a small village. At the time, that’s what Antwerp was: a lot of diversity, all different nationalities mixed up together and everyone with a different background. It felt terribly cosmopolitan, which appealed to me to no end. But now that I’m 50, I feel a bit differently: I’ve kind of had enough of it and crave peace and simplicity. It doesn’t all have to be so hectic anymore. My hunger has been satisfied, although culture in all its forms continues to fascinate.'

Did you know right away what you had come there to do?

Ann Demeulemeester: 'I felt a bit of an outsider: I wasn’t such a fashion victim as the other students. I had arrived there from a completely different angle: I just loved to draw, especially portraits. But when you draw people, you also look at what they are wearing, and I found that intriguing. Why does someone wear the clothes that he does? What is the psychology behind it? Fashion design seemed a challenging profession with interesting opportunities for exploration and the chance to develop a very broad way of communicating through my work.'

For a young girl that’s quite a philosophical view of design I’d say...

Ann Demeulemeester: ‘That’s how I saw things at the time, and I still do. I’m not a typical fashion person. Now I’m appreciated for it: I have my own style and signature. I send something out into the world and get a reaction. When the circle is complete, I have achieved my goal. I get to meet all kinds of people who I would never have got to know otherwise. Including a lot of people I admire, who just get in touch with me because something about my work connects with them. These are all different links that lead to other things: fascinating encounters, new directions... it’s a sort of energy that you send out into the world from which you get energy back.'

You’ve been working in the business since the mid-1980s. Is it getting harder or easier? After all, you have to put together four collections each year...

Ann Demeulemeester: ‘I have no problem with that. After all these years, I always find a way to get started. But you don’t have a lot of time. Three months is not a lot to put together a collection plus a show, certainly if you are starting from scratch each time. For the winter collection, we had a men’s show in January and a women’s show in early March. That meant just a month and a half between the two. And the previous collection was shown in October. Then, after the show, it starts right up again: choosing fabrics and thread, designing patterns and models, getting it all produced and whipping up a show, taking it to Paris and showing and selling your collection, all so that you can come back and start all over again. But that’s just something you have to take on board.'

Is it a life that you can keep up for long?

Ann Demeulemeester: 'I ask myself the same question sometimes, but I don’t really have a choice. When you’re in this business, you have to follow that pace. What helps to relieve the pressure is to have your organization run as smoothly as possible. Choosing the right people, so that everything runs as it’s supposed to. And I’m fortunate to have people like that around me. A good team, a combination of different talents, will get you far.'

A lot of people go back to their roots later in life. Back to Waregem, what do you think?

Ann Demeulemeester: ‘No, but I do miss peace and quiet. It’s like I said at the beginning: my family, and my husband’s family, is the only thing that still connects me with Western Flanders. And I can find peace and quiet elsewhere, it doesn’t have to be in there. As long as I have trees, greenery and nature around me, it brings me into balance as a person and then the hunger to create beauty stays strong.'

www.anndemeulemeester.com