When Haider Ackermann deals with the romantic, you can guarantee it will feel a bit stricken in some way. His ideal isn’t some lovelorn heroine, she’s fully apprised and kitted out when it comes to matters of the heart.
That’s why his vision of romance included bomber jackets, made from sheer chiffon and tulle, a bottle green sports hoodie worn under a battered leather blouson and a pretty shade of pink that nevertheless also felt a bit sludgy. Nothing too sickly, and nothing too silly.
But that didn’t prevent him riffing on the usual romantic themes – there was plenty of froth, for example, but it was controlled – cascading ruffles down the front of camisole and blouses were held in place by zips; mille feuille, raw-edged chiffon layers were rigidly regimented in rows around hems and along the tops of sleek, PVC and leather trousers. Even off-the-shoulder bustiers were rigid, sleeved and precisely wrapped around the body.
Ackermann is a designer at once hard-headed and aesthetic. He’s drawn to the real but also to fantasy. That’s why his clothes are so diverting and fascinating – because they play to the imagination but also to the itinerary of modern life.
