Designer Haider Ackermann evokes the idiosyncrasies of the places he inhabits and the emotions he experiences all to compel us to keep reaching, searching and traveling.
By HASSAN AL-SALEH
Photography RAPHAEL LUGASSY
Styling ROBERT RABENSTEINER
Haider Ackermann is a rare breed and a man of exacting standards. Despite the pressure and demands of the fashion industry, he is one of the most sartorially forward-thinking designers of our time. He goes beyond the necessity of fashion to craft people’s dreams with his sculptural yet soft silhouettes and urban avant-garde aesthetic. Dreams that come alive when worn, and then set in motion.
Ackermann’s formative years as a child traveling the world with his family have informed his designs: the masterful use of textures, artful draping and rich fabrics. A graduate of fashion from the famed Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he launched his eponymous label in 2003 to critical acclaim and in 2016 was tapped as creative director of Berluti. Carefully guarding his vision of deeply personal luxury with a flair for romantic bohemianism, he plays with the notions of duality between rigidity and sensuality. The result is sophisticated and eclectic, asymmetric designs that are recognized for an exquisite sense of androgyny and bourgeoisie spirit. But perhaps most importantly, they are charged with unapologetic attitude and evoke a serious case of wanderlust of the heart, mind and soul.
“I grew up in a family, which was so far away from my own sensibilities. My life used to be about contradictions, but we’re all made out of contradictions and perhaps I explore them more than anyone else. I like that, because it makes everything more fragile, but in every form of fragility there’s a force in it.”