This content was the first to be published in 2018. The artist made the announcement to step down as the brand’s artistic director in March 2024.
Dries van Noten is teetering on the verge of what he calls post-natal depression after only birthing a new women’s set. In fact, he has every reason to be happy — pleasant also. The clothes, shown against the decorated beauty of the Hotel de Ville, were an clever, but utterly smart mash- up of Art Deco, Art Brut and modern sportswear.
The 108- year- aged fashion bible Women’s Wear Daily referred to the work as ‘ a powerful reminder that often, the pure fashion experience is much.’ By all accounts, the present was a success. The majority of manufacturers in his footwear would be delighted. But Dries is certainly most manufacturers.
He’s extraordinary, and tells me a moment of personal- scrutiny and dissatisfaction is obvious, which is amazing. Despite nearly four decades in the industry and 101 shows to his credit, the person who is regarded as one of art’s most renowned separate designers also finds it difficult to look again on his collection the day after a performance. He attributes the thoughts and vanishing train of thought to him. I believe I lack a sense of perfection. The sorrow that comes the day after is beyond my ability to handle. So it’s much that I head back to my home in Antwerp evening and have some length,’ he says.
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We are seated in his office in Paris ‘ hippy Marais neighborhood, surrounded by his numerous publications and carefully selected pieces of antique furniture. The graceful French, who appears more vibrant than his 60 decades, is all relaxed in the midst of structured chaos. Team members are to’ing and fro’ing outside his company doorway while holding exquisitely detailed clothing in their hands. They give merchants from some of the most well-known brands of clothing a closer look at the 1920s-inspired images, louche sewing, and bright embroideries he showed less than 24 hrs earlier. Additionally, there is a lot to purchase.
Wholesale fashion directors gleefully drink in his work, choosing which pieces will top up their department stores and e-commerce stock, satisfying the hunger of his enormous, extremely global fan base. His brand hardliners are just as significant and defined by smart, large- achieving women like Michelle Obama, Meryl Streep and Rihanna. His supporters, when combined, have helped maintain a double digit growth in retailers, making him one of the most successful independent fashion manufacturers at a time when even the established giants fail.
The building’s atmosphere is lively and cheerful. But, in the bright light area in which we sit, van Noten is pensive, thinking through his second ways.’ I can take a little time and start to see, a little bit, what I’m happy with, what I’m less happy with, the reviews, all these things like that. The good news is that we did a show, and we’re already into “next season” because we just started the next men’s collection a few weeks ago. Because we have to keep going, we do n’t have time to think too much.
You could say that his success is at the pinnacle of his heart and pragmatism. For instance, his shows are often emotive experiences. Take his 100th anniversary show, which left editors ( a notoriously poker faced bunch ) smiling and teary- eyed as models young and old, all friends of the house, walked the runway. There were no Insta- bait gimmicks, no massive marketing ploys — just beautiful women, of various ages and races, in gorgeous clothes.
But Dries grounds the emotion with realism. His clothing, while intelligent, challenging and artful, never veers into a place that is so fashion that it alienates or becomes difficult to understand. It hits that sweet spot between insider cool and commercial appeal. It’s still very inclusive and accessible as a collection. His cuts and shapes are flattering to a variety of body types and are simple to wear, according to Harvey Nichols Head of Womenswear Buying, Hazel Catterall, who claims the designer is consistently one of the department store’s top sellers.
His collections are kept under wraps; there is nothing victim-like about them, says Susannah Frankel, a long-time friend who worked with the designer on his eponymous book. In the most authentic sense of the word, he is passionate about his craft and always able to let go of his ego to cheer up the wearers of his clothing. And they are happy!’
With many designers, the creative vision, striking runway statement and elaborate backstory trump everyday, practical wardrobe needs. But Dries is most well known for having a well-developed understanding of what women want to wear, including a beautifully tailored suit with just the right amount of slouch, an embellished skirt that can take you from work to a gallery opening dinner, and exquisite shirting that transcends the trend cycle.
He’s one of the few designers who demonstrates that wearability and creativity ca n’t be mutually exclusive. He does n’t pray to the sequin Gods the first time, even though his AW 2018 collection did include a very appealing track suit. He instead worships at the altar of the trainer. Dry keeps up his signature count from one season to the next, working on it slowly.
And increasingly, his consistent, quiet approach, is becoming an endangered species in an age where fashion has fallen sway to digital disruption and the fleeting attention spans of the social media influencer.
Dries is conflicted about this new era of fashion.’ I think luxury is dead. Without WiFi, luxury is now being transferred to a cabin high up in a mountain, making it impossible to reach via email or phone. In the past, luxury was only transferred to a five-star hotel. That’s now luxury,’ he says.’ In fashion now, there’s such a bombardment of images. There were once two show seasons for both men and women each year. Now, it’s full- time.’
‘ There are the see now/buy now kinds of things. And the shows that take place during couture, but are n’t really couture. And then the shows that happen during women’s season, but there are men walking around. Wait, what season is this now?’ he says.’ Even though I am well-versed in fashion, I am unable to stay tuned. And so when the consumer — by the way, I think this is a very ugly word — ca n’t follow it anymore, they disconnect. That’s a pity. Because he claims that he believes that fashion is too beautiful to ruin it.
Even so, he’s not entirely convinced by the rise of activism in fashion, where designers can protest with a sharp slogan on the runway and in a mock demonstration there. I think the first person]to engage with activism } was Katherine Hamnett. And she did it in a very good way and a very honest manner. And it was n’t just to sell t- shirts. Now there are a lot]of designers ] doing it for sales, and that makes me angry.’
Van Noten steers clear of grand statements.’ I try to give men and women elements that they can use to express themselves in my clothing. In my vision everybody has to get dressed, I want to show options.’ You can do it like this, you can wear it like that, with high shoes, low shoes, boots.’ We show it with younger women, with older women, different types of women, softer ones, more sexy ones, harder ones.
What I’m really happy with is that the selection they make at Liberty is completely different from what they make at Browns and that it is at Selfridges. The same collection, sometimes the same pieces even, but with different focus,’ he says.’ I’m a businessman, I have to see that my company stays healthy. But I also really want to do things that are completely open and free.
Van Noten, who was raised in Antwerp and raised in a family of two tailors, came to understand the business side of fashion when he was just a young child. I have a very traditional Belgian, bourgeois upbringing. My father and my grandfather both worked in the clothing industry, and when I was twelve years old, my father opened his store. So automatically, of course, I would make my homework and then run around in the store, unpack the new deliveries and things like that.’
Van Noten traveled extensively during his school holidays, taking his parents on shopping trips to fashion shows like Pitti Uomo in Florence, while the majority of his students went on family trips to sunny islands or idyllic countrysides. I really liked it and it made a big impression. He goes on,’ Then, of course, early 1970s I start to look at more TV and saw David Bowie performing Jean Genie and your eyes are opening.’
Also, it’s not the easiest to discover when you’re 15 or 16 when you’re gay, given that you belong to that kind of family. I think your education, your upbringing, your school, everything, creates who you are, if you want it or not. You ca n’t say’ away!’ For me, it’s all part of my life, it made me the person I am.’
After graduating from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he met fellow students Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, and Marina Yee, who would later form the loose collective that would later turn Belgium into the fashion capital of the country, known as the” Antwerp Six.”
They took their clothes to London.’ We thought it was going to be very strange, fashion coming from Belgium, because fashion had to be French or English or Italian, maybe a bit of American, but still. Then there were Belgians, and we said,” It’s never going to work,” but people were then willing to accept the concept. It was like another new idea coming in,’ he says.’ That has since changed; today, everything is in fashion. On one side, that makes things easier. But on the other, it’s maybe less exotic, when you start now as a young designer.’
‘ You have other tools now. Because at the time, fax was not available, we had to go to newspaper stalls to purchase magazines, to the last page of the magazine to check which stores were carrying which collections, and to write letters to them to say we were going to present things. We were creating small postcards to announce” we have a show in London” to all those stores. Now, of course, you open your laptop and you email and you communicate on Instagram and you Twitter. It’s a completely different thing, but at the end, it’s the same thing.’
Van Noten’s long-term success as an independent business in a time of triumphant fashion conglomerates is a compelling argument for stepping back from the” system.” Instead of one of the four fashion capitals, he lives and works from Antwerp, though he does have an office and studio there where he has been staging shows for many years. And he and his 32-year partner, Patrick Vangheluwe, share a home where they grow food from their garden and care for their dog, Patrick Vangheluwe. You have to have simple things in life,’ he says.
This brings us to the time off issue. It can be tempting to take a break from everything because there is so much change and collective angst. However, Dries wonders what it would accomplish. I believe that every fashion designer should take a six-month sabbatical in a single season to just have some time for themselves, recharge your batteries, and reflect. But maybe it’s going to be difficult to start all over again, to start again. Maybe you’ll say’ am I mad?’ ‘ is this really necessary?’ because a lot is put into it. Perhaps there are other ways to do it that are less thorough than how I do it. ]My work ] asks a lot from me, but it gives back a lot and for me that is nice.’
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