The fashion crowd was sentimental, some even teary, in the moments leading up to the first Dries Van Noten women’s runway collection presented since the designer revealed his retirement in March.
One editor reminisced about how she still has a skirt in her closet that she bought for her wedding wardrobe 24 years ago at Barneys New York, the same skirt she recently saw Tory Burch wearing all these years afterward. Another spoke about how she never once regretted a Dries Van Noten purchase.
The namesake himself was in the house, according to brand representatives, to support the Antwerp studio members who designed the spring 2025 collection. But he kept a low profile, as in he was out of sight and onto the airport right afterward.
His fingerprints were all over the collection, though, and he supposedly approved every piece. It certainly had many of the ingredients from his work over the years — textiles and embroideries with a hint of the exotic; the clashing color and print sense that has been known to inspire the world’s top interior designers; the masculine/feminine interplay and the sportswear touches, seen on piped printed Bermuda shorts that stood in for pants in several looks.
But there was some of the magic missing — the drama, the diva and the gestural quality of Van Noten’s work. There were lots of clothes but not one takeaway that left you with a new idea of how to dress, how to wear a sweatshirt, tie a sarong — or design your home.
The team picked up on some of the trends in the fashion ether and on the streets, including lingerie, showing lots of nice-looking slipdresses, camisoles and scarfy skirts in jewel-tone silks edged in lace, as well as brightly colored lace bralettes peeking out from mannish blazers. The lust for all things leather was addressed, too, with a deep green blouson jacket.
In lieu of suiting, column dresses were cinched at the backs of waists, like a men’s gilet, and looked great. Through the years, Van Noten has often made blazer shirts — clever pieces with a suiting silhouette that can be tucked into trousers, and they showed up here, along with statement outerwear, the best a long frock coat in orange and pink floral damask.
Brushstroke florals and animal prints have always been part of Van Noten’s vocabulary and were here as well, with a bit of a heavy hand. A sleeveless dress in a printed matte sequin snake pattern was quite chic, however, with a red beaded neckline reminiscent of a lei dipped low in front.
Delicate silver dangling embroidery applied by hand to the shoulders of a strong, sleeveless nipped-waist black coat toward the end of the show brought to mind a root system, one that will surely grow and flourish as the next phase of this unique and storied Belgian fashion house with the gentleman gardener founder comes into focus.
