“Intimacy.” That’s what Dries Van Noten said inspired his fall 2023 women’s collection, which was dedicated to the love of clothes and cultivating a relationship with the wearer.
That may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s at the crux of fashion this season. As some brands fight for attention and social media likes with color-changing clothes (Anrealage), model trust falls (Sunnei) and runway dramatizations of “Le Petit Prince” (Thom Browne), others are drilling back into the fundamentals — the luxury of fit and fabric, and the touch of the handmade.
Post-pandemic casual, and in contrast to the luxury powerhouses built mostly on logo accessories, they’re trying to get customers to fall in love with well-made clothes again and reminding them there is value to dressing well — even for yourself, and a certain sustainability to holding on to luxury pieces.
So Van Noten elevated dressmaker and mending details to the lofty stage of performance venue Le Dôme de Paris, set the collection to the beat of improvisational jazz drummer Lander Gyselinck, and had models crisscrossing the theater aisles, with the entire show reflected in a huge mirror behind the stage. The result was subtle, romantic and an invitation to fashion discovery.
“It’s about really strong materials combined with super flimsy materials, delicacy, things which you cherish, which you really want to keep, which fall apart which you want to restore and mend,” Van Noten said.
Cue the opening passage of tailoring, each piece kissed with a special detail — a gray pinstripe jacket and draped midi skirt slit up the side and edged in rippling white organza, a double-breasted coat with gold zigzag stitching over the darting, and an oversized blazer with lapel sliced open to reveal a sliver of gold jacquard.
“You hide the most precious part for yourself,” Van Noten said, pointing to several tailored pieces in the collection that reverse to gorgeous metallic jacquards.
There were lots of classics with special intimate touches, such as a trench coat with the waist rolled in gold paint, “as if you embellished it yourself,” he explained.
Contrasting with the masculine tailoring were feminine, lingerie-inspired pieces playing on transparency, including slipdresses embroidered with French lace or with old necklaces for straps, organza layered skirts with raw edges, and dusters in subtle hand-painted floral prints over bra tops. Adding to the idea of cherishing, fluffy faux furs were made from the same factory that manufactures Steiff bears. A true Teddy coat.
There was a desire for pieces to look “antique-y but not dusty,” he said, noting a gold lamé floral was adopted from an archival piece found at a mill in Como, and another fabric was made in an atelier in Lyon on old looms from the 1920s.
Two of the most spectacular jackets were patchworked with layers of technical mesh, tulle, wadding and embroidery, paying homage to the idea of conservation. Even the velvets in the collection had been intentionally aged.
“Imperfection sometimes makes it more personal,” said Van Noten. “I personally don’t like perfection. It scares me. Quite often for me it’s the same as boring, right? I think with imperfection you can add something from yourself.”
