Fashion Bytes: Dries Van Noten’s Peachy Day at the Beach at Paris Fashion Week

Photos by Indigital Images 

Welcome to Fashion Bytes, a cheat sheet for your favorite runway designers. From style inspirations to behind-the-scenes scoops, here’s everything worth knowing at Paris Fashion Week Spring 2018.

The brand: Dries Van Noten

The history: In 1986, six fashion graduates from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts drove a rented truck filled with their collections to London Fashion Week. A well-documented chapter in fashion history, that road trip introduced the world to the Antwerp Six, a gang of designers including Ann Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten, who put Belgian style on the map.

 

The designer: Van Noten has always operated his label independently, always from Antwerp. Although he began with menswear, his womenswear line is beloved for its innovation, joy and sophistication. The soft-spoken designer is a master print maker, boldly inventive with his silhouettes and committed to creating modern classics. He does no advertising at all. And his runway shows (like his legendary 50^th anniversary show, which had models walking down a dinner party table) are among the most anticipated each season.

The show: “I wanted to make it a very happy and optimistic collection,” the designer said. Indeed, there was a lightness of mood that included silk combined to look like scarves in a breeze. Substantial prints referenced Picasso’s collage “Les Deux Demoiselles faisant leur Toilettes.” Tulle netting displaying rhinestone broaches like treasures from the deep draped over masculine plaid jackets. Starfish appeared in beads and fibrous weaves. Crystals placed along the models’ lips, eyes and hairlines were like delicate droplets of water. Even the single sparkly earrings resembled clingy sea urchins.

The f-row: Susie Lau, Giovanna Battglia Engelbert, Tina Leung and Christine Centenary were some of the boldface names at Paris’s Hôtel de Ville.

The verdict: Overall, the quite cohesive collection affected an apricot-hued afternoon spent at an artsy beach house–or pure happiness.

SHOP: Dries Van Noten

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