BEAUTY: Clothing--Dries Van Noten

Dries Van Noten is retiring and this is his last collection. Surprising that a designer with Van Noten's status would retire...usually designers are forced out of their positions or, not to be indelicate, die, naturally or otherwise. But it was nice that he announced his retirement before this collection so we could all feel the importance of what we are seeing.

Van Noten is one of the Antwerp Six, a group of fashion designers who trained at Antwerp's Royal Academy of Fine Arts between 1980–81, composed of Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs, Marina Yee, and of course Van Noten (there is a sort of Fifth Beatle, an unofficial member of the Antwerp Six, Martin Margiela). Actually, Demeulemeester retired from her own house in 2013 so there is a bit of precedent. But still, after 38 years and an avalanche of incredible collections, Van Noten is leaving.

And his Spring Summer '25 collection is a high note on which to go out. It shows his deft hand at pattern and color mixing, in a restrained, whisper of a way (peach, adobe, and soft pistachio). On a runway strewn with real silver leaf which fluttered and stirred as the models (mature and young!) walked the runway, David Bowie's words from the documentary "Moonage Daydream" rang out: "Time: one of the most complex expressions. Memory made manifest. It's something that straddles past and future without ever quite being present." As his spoken word section concluded, "You're aware of a deeper existence, maybe a temporary reassurance that indeed there is no beginning, no end," it was clear that the emotion of the occasion was being imprinted on the space itself with the silver leafing being tramped down while other pieces escaped, a possible metaphor for time and all we know. This is the great power of creation which occupies the work of strong designers...it applies to all the arts but the basics--food, clothing, shelter--can turn into exquisite cuisine, haute couture, and interior design that touches something in us that goes beyond shelter, turning a space into a sanctuary.

This menswear collection was shown on men and women...Van Noten said, "It’s all one big happy world, and everybody can wear whatever they want." Sheer fabrics, python (on shorts, boots, shirts!), brushed wool fused to neoprene, a crinkled polyamide, a foiled chatoyant material that reads silver or gold depending on the light, and a gorgeous section of large scale florals printed using suminagashi, an ancient Japanese dying technique, all on Van Noten's exquisite cuts and tailoring (the way he cuts a simple trench coat  *sigh*). Please do take a few minutes to look at the video, with a soundtrack of remixed Bowie music, to see, hear, and feel the beauty. Thanks for 38 years of exquisite clothing, Dries!

https://www.driesvannoten.com/