Dries Van Noten Spring 2016

paris fashion week spring 2016

Dries Van Noten was born in Belgium in 1958. A third-generation fashion designer, Van Noten continued in the family tradition, graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 1980. He burst onto the fashion scene in 1986 with a menswear presentation in London as part of the “Antwerp Six” collective, a group of young Belgian designers that took the fashion world by storm in the late 1980’s. Van Noten opened his first flagship store, called “Het Modepaleis,” in Antwerp in 1989, followed by stores in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, and Singapore, in addition to being carried by over 400 stockists worldwide.

dries van noten

Van Noten was presented with the CFDA International Award in 2008.

He is known for his imaginative use of prints, offbeat and bright colors, intricate layering, and artistic and original fabrics. He has been described by The New York Times as fashion’s most “cerebral” designer, offering elaborately structured visual stories to his customers, which include actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. Van Noten’s eponymous brand is privately held, with estimated annual sales of over €300 million. The company produces ready-to-wear and accessories for men and women and does not produce couture.

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Held in a dilapadated industrial warehouse on the outskirts of Paris, Van Noten unfolded his mille-feuille of brightly colored, nature-inspired prints in the airy central space of the hulking grey vault, accompanied by a classical string trio. Shades of cerise, peacock blue, goldenrod, watermelon, and copper were intertwined in layers of intricate brocades and jacquards and climbing garden prints, displayed on a backdrop of 1940’s, Katherine Hepburn-inspired silhouettes. Paper bag-waisted wide-leg slacks hitched up with worn leather belts, long trouser shorts, and sleek, long-line pencil skirts were balanced by collared shirts buttoned up to the neck and topped with necklaces worn as bolo ties. Cateye glasses and brightly-patterned wedge mules completed the look.

caroline lowe fashion aesthetics + style professor patti capalli taylor fall 2015