Ludovic de Saint Sernin leaves Ann Demeulemeester

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
May 21, 2023

Barely six months after Ludovic de Saint Sernin was appointed creative director of Ann Demeulemeester the house has announced the departure of the designer. 

 
The reasons for the separation were not disclosed. Nor has any successor been named.
 
His departure is the latest in a turbulent few weeks of dismissals and separations of creative directors at notable European runway fashion houses.  Rhuigi Villasenor left Bally last week; in Paris, Bruno Sialelli separated from Lanvin and Charles de Vilmorin departed of Rochas, both in April; while in Milan, Serhat Işık and Benjamin A. Huseby quit Trussardi in March.

Ads

Born in Brussels in 1991 and raised in Paris, Ludovic graduated from ESAA Duperré and worked for important French brands (including Balmain) before launching his eponymous label in 2017, attracting the attention of insiders for his take on sensual and highly individualistic fashion.
 
Last December, when announcing his arrival, Ann Demeulemeester praised the “authority and autobiography “ with which Ludovic de Saint Sernin “will shape the traits of the label around his vision, inclinations and individuality, offering a first-person reading and connection with today's public.”
 
But in the end, the Belgian-born designer leaves the brand after presenting only one collection in Paris Fashion Week in March.
 
Ann Demeulemeester founded her eponymous maison in 1985 and sold it to entrepreneur Anne Chapelle in 2013. The founder is no longer active within the house, but publicly supports the brand and attends its shows. 
 
Since September 2020, the brand has been part of the Dreamers Factory fashion hub, developed by Italian entrepreneur Claudio Antonioli. He is the former joint owner of the New Guards group, later sold to Farfetch, and current boss of multi-brand boutiques in Milan, Ibiza, Turin and Lugano. Within Dreamers Factory, Antonioli has merged, in addition to the Ann Demeulemeester maison, the luxury streetwear brand 44 Label Group.
 
The house of Ann Demeulemeester is now based in Via Savona, a key fashion district in Milan. The brand 
employs over 50 people, 12 of whom are designers, and has expressed its intention to relaunch the marque by making the original style of the Antwerp-born designer more contemporary and with a medium-range price positioning.