ANN DEMEULEMEESTER PRESENTS AUTUMN - WINTER 2026 CAMPAIGN DIRECTED BY STEFANO GALLICI
Two kids enjoying life on a sunny day by the sea, walking elegantly. Striding, actually; like antelopes.
There is something almost unnatural about the way they move through the town of Margate: two young figures against the brightness of the afternoon, passing fi shermen, old houses, empty streets and the endless blue of the sea. They seem to belong to the landscape, yet somehow exist outside of it.
Is it a dream?
Their faces give nothing away. Blank stares; distant, almost absent gazes, as if they are looking at something others cannot see. Perhaps they are remembering another life, a former love, a summer that has already happened somewhere else. Or they are imagining a love yet to come, in an unseen winter, a future summer yet to materialize.
Time seems to have stopped somewhere in between seasons.
They pass by the sea without looking at it, wind lifting the tails of a black velvet dress. A loose shirt opens slightly at the neck. A silk scarf, a ribbon, a distressed T-shirt: small fragments are caught between the body and the breeze.
They do not seem to be going anywhere. Perhaps they are going somewhere very far away. And so they stride through town - detached, almost dreamlike - as if they have just stepped out of a memory and have not yet decided whether to return.
The setting reflects the spirit of the garments first presented during the SS26 show. The grandeur and restraint of Villa Manin echo the collection’s tension between intimacy and monumentality, austerity and romanticism.
Von Bismarck’s lens captures an atmosphere that is at once intimate and monumental. Elodie David, who also collaborates closely with Gallici on the runway shows, reinforces this coherence through styling that feels instinctive and direct.
The campaign establishes a visual language that speaks to Ann Demeulemeester’s heritage while articulating Gallici’s sensibility: romantic and raw, poetic yet rebellious.
CREDITS
Creative Direction: Stefano Gallici
Photography: Nikolai von Bismarck
Styling: Elodie David
Hair: Daniela Magginetti
Make-Up: Vanessa Icareg
Models: Arthur Hargous, Svetlana Lethelier
Location: Villa Manin, Friuli Venezia Giulia
Video: Silken Weinberg
Music: Grapefruit Dreams, For Now by Camp Saint Helene