paris spring/summer 2009 - dries van noten

for two decades, designer dries van noten and his eclectic caravan of ideas has taken us to a beautiful, nomadic trip around the world. amalgamating ideas of ethnic costume from all corners of the globe and weaving all the fabric into clothes with a modern sensibility for a modern woman. while his past collections were always sophisticated and never too overtly referential, for the past few years his work has become more sublime. it has the ability to reach the highest level of sophistication but at the same time they never appear to be too elitist. there is a sensitivity to his work that translates well for todays need for something not too over the top. the beauty of his clothes comes from the serene mixture of colours, and patterns, and textures that gives his creations the feeling that it was made by hands and not pumped out of factories by the thousands. his most recent collection saw the designer experimenting with themes of minimalism. but not minimalism in the nineties calvin klein kind of way. it was still dries, it was still eclectic, but the lines were cleaner. the colour pallete more subdued. and while his trademark use of prints were still present, this time around it came in the form of pixelated squares that was very identifiably his, but with a futuristic tone. it was the perfect marriage of a designer maintaining his identity but done through clothes that have a classic appeal. a feat that could only be done by someone who has conviction and confidence.


photo: style.com