Dries Van Noten’s new collection was presented at a landmark location for the brand – the Lycée Carnot in Paris, where the house had previously been shown. Creative director Julian Klausner decided to return to this space not as a direct quote from the archives, but as an emotional point of reference. The floor-to-ceiling mirror at the beginning of the catwalk repeated the scenography of the 2009 show, but instead of literally recreating the past, the designer offered a different interpretation of nostalgia – for youth.
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It was the memories of his teenage years that became the starting point for the collection. Shortly after the previous show, Klausner visited the high school with the team and saw how hundreds of students filled the hallways after the bell rang. This moment, according to the designer, reminded him of the universal feeling of high school: awkwardness, a slight shame and at the same time the joy of discovering oneself. During this period, clothing becomes an important language of self-expression – a way to try on different identities.
The collection began with the codes of school uniform: duffle coat, shirt and tie, preppy blazer. However, this order quickly collapsed. Grunge checks, prints of 17th-century still lifes, sometimes pixelated, varsity jackets and deconstructed denim appeared on the catwalk. Klausner combines references as if teenagers were trying on different roles – easily and intuitively.
It is in such unexpected combinations that the brand's spirit is revealed: a jacket with an exquisite skirt decorated with embroidered ribbons, a bronze jacquard coat with knitted sleeves, a denim jacket paired with a skirt where the “pixels” are lined with silk, sequins and glass beads. The culmination was jackets chaotically stitched with embroidered ribbons.
As with the brand's best shows, the real power of this collection lies not in the embellishments or intricate combinations of prints. Its appeal lies in the items that are easy to imagine in your own wardrobe: a jacket, a chunky sweater, comfortable shoes. That's how Dries Van Noten's aesthetic works – between art and real life.
According to Vogue.com.