Ann Demeulemeester heads to Margate for Fall Winter 2026, following two mysterious figures through the seaside town on a bright afternoon that feels caught somewhere between summer and winter.
There’s something slightly surreal about the pair as they move through Margate. With their elongated strides and distant expressions, they seem almost out of place among fishermen, old houses, quiet streets and the blue sea. The house describes their movement as being reminiscent of antelopes—graceful, instinctive and a little otherworldly.
The campaign leans into that feeling of distance. Neither figure gives much away, with blank stares and wandering eyes suggesting their attention is fixed somewhere beyond the streets around them. It leaves plenty of room for interpretation: Are they remembering another life, a past love or a summer that has already slipped away? Or are they imagining something that hasn’t happened yet?
That uncertainty carries through the entire story. The afternoon looks unmistakably summery, but the clothes belong to a colder season, creating a strange overlap between what has passed and what’s still ahead.
The sea is always nearby, though neither figure seems particularly interested in looking toward it. Instead, the wind becomes part of the story, constantly shifting the clothes as they move through town. A black velvet dress lifts in the breeze, a loose shirt opens around the neckline, and silk scarves and ribbons trail through the air.
There’s a nice contrast between the softness of those details and pieces with a little more edge, including a distressed T-shirt. Everything feels alive in motion, changing slightly with every step and gust of wind.
And while Margate gives the campaign a very real sense of place, the two figures seem to exist somewhere outside of it. They wander without an obvious destination, passing through familiar streets while remaining completely absorbed in their own world.
That’s what makes the Fall Winter 2026 campaign feel so dreamlike. Ann Demeulemeester isn’t simply presenting a collection for the colder months; it’s creating a moment suspended between memory and anticipation, summer and winter, where nothing feels completely defined.
Shot by Nikolai von Bismarck, the campaign leaves its characters—and us—somewhere in between. They could be walking away from a summer they can’t quite let go of or toward something they haven’t met yet.
