Ann Demeulemeester Berly Dress

Asymmetry is easy to do loudly and difficult to do quietly. This dress takes the quiet route: the line is off-centre, the tie sits where a symmetrical dress would have a seam, and the effect is that something is slightly and deliberately out of true without any single element announcing it. The stripe works the same way. Woven into black viscose at a fine enough scale that it reads as a change in the surface rather than as a pattern, it gives the cloth movement under light without turning the dress into a striped dress. Both decisions point the same direction, which is what makes the garment coherent rather than merely detailed.

This is the piece that shows the house is capable of restraint, which is the half of its reputation that gets less attention than the severity.

Ann Demeulemeester founded the label in 1985 and left it in 2013; Stefano Gallici has designed it since 2023. Asymmetry has been a constant across all of them.

One hundred percent viscose, made in Italy, in black with a subtle stripe. Asymmetric cut, long sleeves, front tie.

Viscose has no stretch, so the tie is doing the fitting rather than the cloth. It accommodates a range through the waist and less through the shoulder, so size for the shoulder.

On its own, with the Danny Ankle Boots. The asymmetry is the detail, so a plain shoe and no jewellery.

Viscose is weakest wet and a tied garment is easy to distort while damp, so this is dry clean rather than hand wash. Our care guidance covers viscose and why.

If this is the one, look also at the Agnes Jacket in the same fibre, the Bregje Ruffled Dress as the fuller alternative, and the Fora Macrame Robe. The rest of what we carry from the house is on the Ann Demeulemeester page.