After the rain comes the sun. That’s how Dries Van Noten’s beautiful collection for Spring/Summer 2023 can be summed up.
The Dries Van Noten show, his first womenswear runway sortie in 30 month, held in a disused office building, goes crescendo from absolute black to a quiver of colorful and airy sensations.
“I thought maybe we have to start from black, really the essence, the base of what fashion and clothes are – pleating, volume, structures, then to introduce the same volumes going from stiff and hard to softer, fluid versions. The shapes in fact stayed the same, so it’s the same lexicon”, said the Belgian designer.
So there was all-black cocooning outerwear and sharp tailoring, then he introduced more softness in a stripped back way, in the second phase, before ending with an explosion of colors and floral patterns drawn then redrafted from past Van Noten collections and mashed sumptuously against each other. Dries Van Noten also referenced the ’90s in his collection, bringing his personal touch to sheer second-skin layers, fitted shirts, baby cardigans, cargo pants and duster coats.
©Dries Van Noten