A High Moment. Dries Van Noten AW24

Dries Van Noten‘s show was definitely a high moment of the rather “play-it-safe” first days of Paris Fashion Week, where many brands based their collections on vapid, blurry ideas and concepts. The Belgian designer titled his autumn-winter 2024 collection “The Woman Who Dares to Cut Her Own Fringe“. “This means for me audacity, but also considered… She is in one way really tender but also very strong.” This too: “it’s about style and not so much about fashion.” The Yves Saint Laurent quote – “fashion fades, style is eternal” – is forever relevant, and during fashion month you really see how neglected that wisdom is. Van Noten’s latest collection was pure style, because how else can you call a gray sweatshirt fabric with iridescent sequins, or lavender silk duchess worn with faded denim jeans?

The show started with a camel coat, double-breasted with a stand-up collar and rounded sleeves, but its neutral minimalism was more of an appetizer that prepared your taste buds for the next dishes. This was a collection of many colors, often in surprising pairings or trios, even better if Van Noten could add strange textures ranging from shaggy fur-like mohairs to tinselly metallics. “There is no process and there is especially not a system. The last thing that I want is a system because then it feels organized. These things need to happen in a very spontaneous way.” Emphasizing that sense of spontaneity, zip-up hoodies were worn with one sleeve off and wrapped around the neck like a scarf and button-downs were shown back-to-front, the collars popped under stretchy nylon shirts. The offbeat, irreverent mix was the thing, but he also made a point of saying, “every piece has to stand on its own. It’s important that it’s not just looking nice when it’s an outfit, every piece has to have its value.” See, there’s a big different between “style” and “styling“. Most shows we see today are pure styling, a combination of clothes that separately would mean nothing. With Van Noten’s clothes, you’re equipped to create style.