For You, From Dries

Nostalgia del Futuro is the emotion Dries Van Noten referenced when speaking of his last collection at the eponymous brand. For decades, the Belgian designer has made a huge impact on fashion, especially menswear, by reimagining what elegance means. While his brand gained a timeless presence in the fashion industry, Saturday, 22 June 2024, marked Dries’ last collection – the 150th collection in 38 years. 

Indeed, this paradoxical feeling of Nostalgia del Futuro – a yearning for the future – is mirrored in the collection, resulting in clothes that can move through life. Van Noten didn’t want to start a new chapter, but rather to revisit and cherish the brand’s most iconic traits. From the mesmerising set – with a runway covered in silver leaves referencing his gold 2006 show – to the interplay between soft tones and romantic silhouettes, this collection was never meant to be a grand finale. Instead, it was designed to simultaneously reflect on the past, present, and future and live on.  

The designer carried the audience through a deeply personal journey as the models, including Alain Gossuin, who walked in Dries’s first show in 1991, gracefully walked down the runway to the music of David Bowie. The set alone was designed to independently tell a story, while the looks themselves offered a new understanding of elegance: effortlessly refined yet contemporary. The tailoring was impeccable, mixing slouchy and fitted, and emphasised the wearability of Dries’ garments. Dreamy colours, such as peach, rust and lime, were paired with the most romantic of fabrics, including transparent layers as if to preserve his designs and memories. The magic of this collection lies in its details, too – in the embroideries of the garments, from gold bullion in relief to precious stones, embellishments are patterned in various forms so as to present fragments of memory. And then, the strong presence of suminagashi, which created large unique graphic leaves and flowers on the garments, felt like the perfect way to encapsulate the designer’s legacy of revolutionising menswear.

And just like that, as the designer takes his final bow, the work of Dries Van Noten is seamlessly woven into the very fabric of fashion, leaving an indelible mark for generations to come.