With a deep understanding of rich textiles and embroidery designs, combined with art-inspired colour palettes and patterns that are as exquisite as they are bold, Dries Van Noten has made a name for himself over the past four decades as a Belgian designer known for his cerebral approach to fashion and elegant designs.
While his clothes are known for their daring clashes of colours, textures, and prints, Dries Van Noten’s collections are also equally known for their romantic elements. His poetic, bohemian collections often feature soft, relaxed, and fluid silhouettes that perfectly balance sharp tailoring and intricate embroidery.
And his inspirations have always been magical, like those of a true artist. From fine-art paintings to colours, movies, and even perfume, Van Noten is known for bringing all his delicate and delightful inspirations to the runway. The 68-year-old fashion designer is also known for drawing inspiration from his travels. From China to India and Africa, Van Noten has often incorporated cultural traditions into his collections. But in an age when cultural appropriation has run rampant in the fashion industry, Van Noten has always maintained a clear conscience.
“When it's sacred, when it's religious, you have to be careful. You can't just do whatever you want. It's not just an object; it's not just a thing. I want to pay respect to that; I think there are enough things in the world that you don't have to go that way,” he said in an interview with The Independent in 2015.
In 2018, Van Noten sold a majority stake in the company to the Spanish fashion and fragrance conglomerate Puig to secure the brand’s long-term future. He decided to step down as the brand’s creative director in 2024, while Julian Klausner was appointed as his successor.
But Dries Van Noten as a label hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. As reported by Vogue Magazine, the Belgian brand was described by Puig as one of its fastest-growing niche brands in 2023 and continued to record growth in 2024. The brand has also expanded beyond clothing through new partnerships with the launch of its in-house beauty and fragrance lines.
So, how did the fashion maven start it all? Here’s the complete MAYFEYR breakdown.
Fashion-Focused Family & The Antwerp Six
Like many other fashion designers, Dries Van Noten grew up around garments and tailoring. As a third-generation tailor in Belgium, young Van Noten grew up accompanying his father, a merchant, who owned a fashion boutique in Antwerp, on textile-buying trips.
He later enrolled at the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp to study fashion design. To help pay his way through college, he began sketching for his father’s company. After graduating, he and five fellow graduates formed what became known as the “Antwerp Six.” They famously rented a van in 1986, packed their collections, and headed to the British Designer Show in London without industry connections or financial backing.
“We knew that our names were very difficult to pronounce, so we made flyers that said, ‘Come look at the six Belgian designers, the six from Antwerp upstairs,’” he told GQ Magazine in an interview explaining about the group’s origins.
The term “Antwerp Six” was soon adopted by several fashion magazines and helped launch the careers of the six designer friends. Van Noten’s designs also quickly attracted major department stores, including Barneys in New York City and Whistles in London. In turn, the group helped put Antwerp on the global fashion map.
But the designer has never shied away from stating the struggles he faced in his early years, when he had to design seven different collections for other brands just to earn enough money to invest in his own label. In 1991, finally, Van Noten made his Paris runway debut during Paris Fashion Week.
Featuring clean, sophisticated menswear, Van Noten’s debut already showcased his immense talent for combining soft silhouettes with elegant designs. It also introduced elements that would become recognisable features of his work, including knitwear and decorative embroidery.
Artistic Inspirations & Legendary Fashion Shows
And for the next three decades, Dries Van Noten delivered memorable collection after collection, highlighting his inspirations from fine art paintings and his genius way of blending juxtapositions of rich colours, patterns, and textures. He also introduced ethnic design elements into his collection, while being responsible for 3,000 embroidery workers in Calcutta, India, for instance.
He also delivered some of the most sought-after collections, whether featuring grunge-inspired themes or casual menswear with a nod to rebellious aristocracy. Yes, we are definitely talking about Van Noten’s famous Spring 2005 menswear collection, which was inspired by Prince Harry.
But one of his earliest memorable runway shows was his Winter 1996 menswear collection, where he pushed the boundaries by featuring real-life models. Van Noten actually recruited them by producing flyers and distributing them across London, Brussels, and Paris.
And the result? Dries Van Noten staged his runway show at Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence and featured 140 street-cast models. But did you know that Van Noten’s out-of-the-box idea also included having two buses of Japanese tourists walk through the show? That’s the charm and playfulness one can expect from his legendary runway collection.
For his 50th show back in 2004, he designed his runway show around a long dinner table, where models in his signature ethereal prints, florals, and embroideries strutted down the runway beneath 130 crystal chandeliers. Next came the dream collaboration between Dries Van Noten and fashion couturier Christian Lacroix in 2020, as the collection featured an amalgamation of rich golden brocades, ruffled hems, and ornate embellishments, like ostrich feathers, making it one of the most intricate collections to come out of the luxury fashion house.
But while his runway shows are extravagant and exciting, there was also a pure joy in seeing landscapes meet fashion, as in his Spring/Summer 1995 menswear show, which drew inspiration from the picturesque Côte d’Azur. Remembered as one of Van Noten’s most memorable runway shows, he sent models down the road in neutral-coloured pieces, showcasing an eclectic mix of formal shirts, suits, trousers, and trench coats, alongside a rose-embroidered vest paired with a white short-sleeved shirt, or a sophisticated knitted sweater matched with striped trousers.
All of these pieces are still in trend even decades later, showing how Van Noten’s vision has always focused on longevity rather than cyclical fashion trends. He closed the runway show with male models riding bicycles and smiling along the road at Jardin du Palais Royal in Paris.
Final Bow & New Age of Dries Van Noten
With over 150 collections and 129 fashion shows throughout his career, the maestro took his final bow in 2024 with his final show: Spring/Summer 2025. The final show, as expected, was a feast for the senses. Imagine a 74-metre catwalk festooned with 70,000 silver foils, where 69 looks were paraded by models close to Van Noten’s career. The final show ushered in the crème de la crème of the fashion industry, including Van Noten’s fellow Antwerp Six members: Ann Demeulemeester and Walter Van Beirendonck.
While everyone celebrated his work, perhaps it was the emotional connection that made Dries Van Noten’s pieces feel so special to those who bought them. The designer himself confirmed that his clothes, crafted out of love and passion, carry a great deal of sentimental value for him as well as for the wearer.
“Emotions come up constantly, and that for me is exceptional. That is really something I can cherish, that we achieved that. That clothes can be more than just business or status symbols, that clothes can be carriers of emotions,” he told Hero Magazine in an interview.
The designer also casually stated that it’s okay to mix and match his pieces, further cementing why Van Noten is one of the most beloved fashion designers. He doesn’t just create art through clothing but also has a no-nonsense and practical way of looking at fashion as a whole.
“I think that is what fashion is, showing your personality. And not buying a total look and then just wearing it the way we showed it on the fashion show,” he said in the same interview.
Since his final show, Dries Van Noten has appointed Julian Klausner as his successor, and Klausner’s runway collections have been praised for retaining the designer’s DNA while still making commercial, wearable luxury clothing.
While fashion trends come and go, there will always be someone who points at a beautiful, expressive piece of clothing and says, “That’s a bit Dries.”
Shop your Dries Van Noten pieces only at MAYFEYR.
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