Ann DeMeulemeester’s Wool Vests and Furs: Warm Winter Extravagances!

Belgian fashion designer, Ann DeMeulemeester, shocked the fashion world this past month with her announcement that she’s leaving her eponymous fashion house. But the Jackson Pollock-inspired designer is exiting on a high note, offering two extravagant winter-ready creations: the Kidassia Fur Vest and the Ribbed Knit Wool Vest. Ann D’s monochromatic look typifies her best compositions. The Kidassia Fur Vest is a cotton-made Italian delight that looks feathery, plush, and downy – almost avian, in a way that almost veers to the ridiculous, but gracefully stops short. Instead, it’s simply plush and marvelous.

Available in both black and white, this fur vest would be a good fit for a countess or entertainment industry higher up… or even (possibly) an evil, gorgeous villain in a spy movie. You know the kind: the femme fatale who owns her own multi-million dollar plastics company, who hobnobs with gazillionaires and dates handsome European ministers. The Ribbed Knit Wool Vest offers a different — but no less posh — aesthetic. This vest has three holes that allow you to wear the garment open or wrapped across the front. It’s available in creamy white and liquorish black. Both vests also serve their “winter apparel” functions quite well. So if you’re trying to make a practical decision to bundle yourself up against the brutal winds of the Bostonian or New York City winter, you’ll be in good stead with either choice.

One thing that’s charming about Ann D’s style is that it challenges a common conventional notion about cold weather apparel: that warm coats need to be bulky and overwhelming. Both vests are kept deliberately spare – a smart, if daring choice. Don’t let winter’s bluster bowl you over: wrap yourself in one of Ann D’s luxurious vests, and sheath yourself from the cold!