Ann Demeulemeester Stee Ruffled Drawstring Top

Poplin is the reason this works. A ruffled, voluminous blouse in a soft cloth becomes romantic almost automatically, and that is a register this house has never been interested in. Poplin is crisp, holds an edge, and gives a ruffle a defined line rather than a soft one, so the same shape reads architectural instead. The drawstrings then let you decide how much of that volume to keep, which means the blouse can be a full-sleeved statement or a controlled one on different days. It is a garment doing something more technical than it looks like it is doing.

Why we selected it

Volume in a blouse is normally fixed by the pattern, so you buy a silhouette and live with it. This one hands the decision to the wearer and does it without the garment looking like a compromise in either position, which is genuinely difficult drafting and almost never what a drawstring is actually doing. It is also the piece customers try on without intending to.

Ann Demeulemeester founded the label in 1985 and it has been designed by Stefano Gallici since 2023. Adjustable volume is a habit of the house rather than a season’s idea.

The colour

White is where this garment is hardest to make and easiest to judge. The white blouse is the piece almost every wardrobe wants and almost nobody buys well, because the available versions are either plain to the point of being a uniform or so overworked that they can only be worn once. This is neither, and white is the colour that shows it: in black the ruffles register as shadow, and in white they register as edge, so every fold the poplin is holding is visible and the crispness of the cloth is doing its work in plain sight.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton poplin, made in Italy. Ruffled detailing with drawstrings.

Fit notes

Cut voluminous, then adjustable. The shoulder is fixed, so size for it. Poplin has no give, and the drawstring is doing all the fitting.

Styling

Tucked into the Treze Bootcut Trousers, where the volume above the waist balances the flare below. Under the Agnes Jacket, where only the sleeve shows and the white is a line at the cuff. With black, always, since the blouse is the only light thing that should be happening.

Care

Cotton poplin washes cool and needs pressing to keep the crispness that makes the garment work. Dry the drawstrings loosened. Our care guidance covers cotton.

Related pieces

The same top in black is the Stee Ruffled Drawstring Top in black. For the same idea as a dress, the Bregje Ruffled Dress. It sits over the Treze Bootcut Trousers. Everything we currently hold from Ann Demeulemeester is listed together.