For the autumn-winter 2019 prints, Dries Van Noten and his design team went for a ‘field trip’ to the designer’s garden (and it’s not just any garden – you must witness it in the ‘Dries’ documentary on Netflix!) in order to take photos of flowers. The photos were taken last October, so quite naturally the flowers weren’t all that bloomy and fresh. Still, what attracted the designer the most were their imperfections: black spots, visible diseases, dried petals. Don’t expect basic floral prints, but rather, a strangely romantic, darker take on the very unlikely trend of the A/W season. Turtleneck dresses, satin blazers, robe coats and shirts were adorned with these flowers, while the colour palette was kept in deep greys, lilac and burgundy. Many compare this collection to Prada this season – where flowers were as well the key point – but at Dries Van Noten the effect is much different. Styled with long leather gloves, loosely-fitted pinstripe suits and faux fur stoles in extremely bright orange, the feeling was edgy, chic eccentric, but very feminine in an unmistakable Van Noten manner.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.