Fun
Dries Photographs Flowers
Dear Kay,
Back in February, I settled in for one of my favorite rituals: watching the fashion show for the latest collection from Dries Van Noten. Some people watch football or baseball or golf. This is my Super Bowl.
There it is, up top, his Fall/Winter 2019-2020 collection.
I loved it as I love everything he does, no matter how unlikely it is for a person like me to wear clothes like these. He is the epitome of originality. His curiosity about color, pattern, texture, and fabric have remained steadfast over more than 100 collections, over three decades. Still, despite his long career, every collection hits upon something breathtaking, something new.
The floral prints struck me then as strange, surreal. The mashups of lurid color and delicate flowers were lovely, but strange.
A Recent Discovery
Now I know why those flower prints seemed so striking.
What I just discovered last week is that the floral fabrics are all based on photographs Dries and his team took in Antwerp last October, wandering in his gigantic, dying garden.
The New York Times Magazine was along for that expedition.
You can see what Dries was up to in a short film, here.
(I think you need to be a subscriber to The New York Times to access this. Go ahead: sign up so you can see the wonderment that happens when Dries is in his back yard.)
Love,
Ann
Loved the New York Times segment and the wonderful house tour following. Inspired me to redecorate something. Ann, you and Kay give me something to look forward to each day. I’ll save the complete fashion show for later. Thanks!
I would love to wear any (all) of those outfits! So beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Somehow I navigated to a silent archive of 100 of his runway shows. Mesmerizing!
Wow! Those are some of the most beautiful clothes I’ve seen in a very long time. Not only was the making of the fabric a fascinating story, but the clothing designs themselves looked like they would be just as beautiful on a wide variety of body shapes and sizes as they did on the models. Absolutely amazing.
Loved this!
I agree the clothes and prints are beautiful. But I couldn’t get past the faces of the women … They looked like they were being forced to do something against their will. I know that it’s the “look” in modeling but I find it disturbing.
I was thinking the same thing about the expressions…and this is going to date me…but remember when models used to take such pains to have beautiful hair? Some of these styles looked more like they’d showered and ran. Or just ran. 🙂
I completely agree about both the gorgeous fabrics and the models’ expressions. They look like they hate the viewer – I wonder why this awful “look” is so popular. Even many of the models in knitting magazines have such bizarre, angry faces.
My niece has done some modeling in NYC and Paris, and the unhappy look is what they’re told to project. It’s kind of sad, I think.
I see your point. But is simply not smiling any worse or different from beauty pageant contestants’ forced smiles? Also, I think that a blank expression might be justified by some of the uncomfortable-looking shoes here. The shoes are an…interesting? juxtaposition with the wearable-for-high-fashion styles and beautiful floral prints!
Breathtaking!
This particular set of prints is really reminiscent of how kimono silk is designed and made up — particularly the way the the prints flow across multiple pieces. Thanks so much for sharing this, Ann – a visual treat.