Dries Van Noten
Dries Van Noten
Info
Biography
Born in Antwerp in 1958, Dries Van Noten is the third generation in a family of tailors. At the age of 18, Dries entered the fashion design course of Antwerp’s Royal Academy. On graduating, he began to freelance as a consultant designer before starting his own collection of menswear in 1986. Since its beginnings Dries Van Noten has presented collections for women and men for Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter each year. He
celebrated his 50th fashion show in 2004 and 100th fashion show in 2017.
In June 2008, the Council of Fashion Designers of America honoured Dries Van Noten with its International
Designer of the Year Award. 2014 began with the grand opening of Dries Van Noten, “Inspirations”, a first
ever exhibition featuring his designs and influences at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Another
configuration of the exhibit moved to Antwerp in 2015. In July France decorated Dries Van Noten with the
honour of ‘Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.’ In October 2016, Dries Van Noten wins the Culture
Award from The Province of Antwerp for his contribution to Culture.
In June 2018 Puig entered the capital structure of Dries Van Noten as majority owner. The designer remains, over the long term, a significant minority shareholder and continues his role as chief creative officer and chairman of the board.
2019 saw Mr Van Noten collaborate with world renowned fashion designer Mr Christian Lacroix on his
collection for Women, Spring/Summer 2020. In June 2020, and September 2021, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has again nominated Dries Van Noten for its International Designer of the Year Award.
Q&A with dries van noten
When did you know that designing clothes was your path & passion?
There was a certain logic to my choice as my family had been involved in fashion and the garment business for generations. My father created one of Belgium’s most innovative retailers of ‘Pret-a-Porter’ and my grandfather was a tailor. I inherited my love of garment making, its traditions and rituals, from these men and my mother. Family immersed me in the craft and skill of fabrics, impassioned me with the power of flair and style for women and men that fired my quest to explore and question the subjectivity of “beauty” and the role it would play in my life. My family was very supportive and encouraged me to continue its fashion tradition. I regularly accompanied my parents to Paris and Milan on their many buying trips for collections. Though they had imagined I might take over the retail business, that I was passionate to become a fashion designer came as a great surprise to them.
What is your design signature?
I see a garment as a singular item of excellence that is part of a larger story told, firstly, within a designer’s vision for a collection and ultimately as part of the final wearer’s expression of their style through their wardrobe. My joy is to create a garment that fuses and balances beauty, craft and function, a garment that can perform well and continue in time to become part of life’s story. I enjoy juggling with colours, textures and light in a way that evokes rather than provokes.
Where do you come up with your best ideas?
The spark of inspiration for the narrative a collection rarely ever comes in the same way. The initial idea can sometimes come quickly and remain constant throughout the design process… occur on a walk in my garden, encountering a painting or the life and work of an artist. It can be something rarefied or ordinary, for example, suddenly looking at something that has surrounded me every day and seeing it in a different way that inspires. It can be a photograph in a book or a magazine, a re-read passage in a loved book, a conversation with friends or my design team or a piece of music. For other collections the story is more of a journey, deliberate, considered, and evolves through time and the design process. Anything can be that spark that ignites the creative process. What I have learned is that one recognises the spark when it happens, it may not be too planned, be ‘of its time’ and is more emotional than cerebral.
Is there a difference between style and fashion?
Of course, style comes from within..
What colour or fabric would you never use?
None actually! Often, challenging myself to work with colours, fabrics, or forms that I have disliked and bringing them into a collection can be an important aspect of the creative process.
What is beauty?
The idea of beauty is supremely subjective and very personal. Time also plays a role when our view on what is beautiful to us evolves. A flower, a building or a garment can be a thing of wonder for one while leaving another completely indifferent. What was beautiful to us even recently may be ugly today. Luckily, all designers have their own eye on and language of beauty.
What is ugliness?
It resonates in the same way as beauty for me. It is exciting when the formerly ugly becomes beautiful.
Timeline
- 1981 Dries Van Noten graduates from Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp
- 1986 Dries Van Noten started his first own collection of menswear after working as a freelance consultant designer
- 1989 Flagship store opens in Antwerp, Belgium
- 2004 50th Show
- 2007 Paris store opens at Quai Malaquais, Paris France
- 2008 Dries Van Noten wins Internation Designer of the year at CFDA awards./ Dries Van Noten Sacred “Royal Designer for Industry” from the RSA Trustee Board in London
- 2009 Flagship store opens in Aoyama, Tokyo, Japan/ Stores opens for the men at Quai Malaquais, Paris, France
Dries Van Noten Induction to The “Galerie Des Eminents” By The Flemish Chamber Of Commerce (Voka)
Dries van Noten is gifted a gold medal by The Flemish Royal Academy of Belgium
Dries Van Noten Is Honored With the “Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion” By the Couture Council of the Museum at Fit In New York - 2010 Dries Van Noten Is Invited To Preside Over the 25th Edition of the “Festival International De Mode et De Photographie” of Hyres, France
- 2013 Olfactory portrait by Frederic Malle with The Nose Bruno Jonanovic
- 2014 xhibition at The Musée Des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France
A book that accompanied his exhibition at Musée des arts Décoratifs in Paris, France - 2015 Dries Van Noten is decorated by Jack Lang of the medal
Opening of Dries Van Noten Osaka - 2016 Wins Culture Award from The Province of Antwerp
- 2017 An intimate portrait into the life, mind and creative heart the designer
A book in two volumes that depicts and documents his first 100 collection and Fashion shows
In recognition of his career as fashion designer and his contribution to the Cultural life of his native land - 2018 DVN enters in partnership with Puig as Major Stakeholders
- 2019 Collaboration with Mr Christian Lacroix
- 2020 Nominated by The CFDA for International Designer of The Year Award
Stores opens in Shanghai, China
Flagship stores opens in Los Angeles, USA the first Dries Van Noten store in the Unites States of America
Godefriduskaai 36 Antwerpen 2000 Belgium
Info
no more grey days – upcycled fashion products
NMGD designs, reworks and upcycles for fashion lovers who wish to support our ambition to create sustainable fashion. We capture the beauty and value of what is already out there and creatively rework second hand- flee market findings, fabric cut offs or overstock to new, beloved products. With natural dyes and hand-stitched artwork we avoid chemical printing processes.
Every single piece is therefore personal and unique with an individual note.
no more grey days opposes fast fashion and mass production and is created locally, one-at-a-time. as a passion.
For those who want to do good to themselves by purchasing a unique, beautiful piece, and at the same time spare our planet a fraction of further exploitation.
de merodelei 31 Antwerpen 2600 Belgium
Marius Janusauskas
Marius JanusauskasInfo
Founded in 2014 by designer Marius Janusauskas, a graduate of the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp who has been recognized on various international talents’ platforms for his fem-eye and intellectual take on occasional-wear.
Collections often reference art, literature, and menswear and are perfectly fit a female’s form.
Balance of contemporary shapes and luxurious and innovative textiles are the key elements of the label’s identity.
The woman of Marius Janusauskas is modern and elegant. She is seen and admired for her personal choices. She is every woman with a joie de vivre, who cares to dress for a special occasion.
La Rosa
La RosaInfo
Matteo La Rosa started the brand in June 2019.
In October 2020, he showed his first official collection to the public during Paris Fashion Week.
In June 2021, his second collection was shown through an online show. His first official men’s collection was shown then.
Matteo La Rosa is a Belgian/italian fashion designer and stylist from Antwerp. In 2019 he started his label MATTEO LA ROSA .
He mainly takes inspiration from the 80s. Where he is inspired by music such as new wave. The darkness and the color black he draws fully on to his collections.
Matteo designs for the powerful woman. A woman who knows what she wants and is not afraid to show it. He embraces the female body in a way of pure elegance and adores how the garments fall over the body. The essence of this comes from his strong bond with his mother and grandmother. Two power women in Matteo La Rosa’s life.
Although he designs his silhouettes based on the female body, gender neutrality plays a very important role in Matteo’s designs. He actually designs for the person rather than the gender.
He usually shows his creations on models where the phenomenon of “woman” or “man” is non-existent. Only a true harmony between the garment and the body.
The sustainability aspect is very important in Matteo’s design process. Thus, everything is made in MATTEO LA ROSA’s own ateliers in Belgium.
He does not have a large stock of garments which means that no unnecessary fabrics are used and no waste is produced.
The brand MATTEO LA ROSA is built from a love for recycling old pieces and transforming them into new pret a porter pieces. As a result, each new collection will be a mix of archive pieces and newly produced pieces.
Collections include pieces for both men and women who feel good in an edgy basic silhouette of monotone colors.
Weg naar As 255 Genk 3600 Belgium
Filles à papa
Filles à papaInfo
Lauched in 2009 by Carol and Sarah Piron, the brand FILLES A PAPA has its roots in Liège. The sisters were soon joined by fashion photographer Gregory Derkenne who, beyond his eye for aesthetics, honed the label’s ethos. The duo-cum-trio was quick to understand that fashion and style is a question of identity.
FILLES A PAPA is an attitude, a deliberate rebellious streak and a clothing line in which the word “contemporary” reveals all its paradoxes and sharpness. Postmodern you might add, as this celebration of the modern young woman reflects the cynicism of our time. Behind the propriety of the name [meaning “Daddy’s girls”] lies sharp off-the-peg fashion that attracts boutiques, magazines and it-girls around the world thanks to its offbeat mood and a perfectly calibrated fit with the here and now. FILLES A PAPA offers a very distinctive but daringly different wardrobe.
Emerging through its collections and images, which are produced each season like a manifesto, is the portrait of an heiress who hasn’t forgotten to be a rebel or a rock star who’s made her aggressiveness part of her charm. Fuse, combine, hybridize and surprise, because as philosopher Michel Serres has said, “Nothing makes more sense than changing the meaning.”
Pierre Antoine Vettorello
Pierre Antoine VettorelloInfo
The work of Pierre Antoine Vettorello focuses on using textile design and clothes as a foundation for narrative. He makes sculptural and statement silhouettes that represent militancy and poetry. Some are inspired by military technologies, ordinary materials, West African textiles and materials, and methods learned during tours and workshops. As a designer, he seeks to incorporate hand-made processes and discarded elements into the creation of clothes and forms in order to center them in his work. As a human being and a scholar, he is challenging our personal relationship with our sartorial past, as well as how we manufacture mythologies about ‘designers’ in Western nations, repeating colonial practices. He identifies how we view and get inspiration from the African continent, as well as how we interact with it.
Vettorello received the ASVOF Diane Pernet award in 2010 and Arise Award in 2011.
He is French-born & Ivorian, grew up in Bordeaux, now works and lives in Brussels (Belgium). He is a Ph.D. research fellow at the University of Antwerp and Sint Lucas Antwerp School of Arts.
Info
Ayanne is een open atelier in hartje Gent waar maatkledij volgens de oude Franse haute couturetechnieken wordt vervaardigd. Dames kunnen er op afspraak terecht voor avond- en bruidskledij als ook voor tijdloze basics op maat. Ayanne werkt enkel puts natuurlijke stoffen (voornamelijk zijde) in haunting een uiterst fijne afwerking. Ieder stuk wordt exclusief in het couturesalon vervaardigd. U wordt er hartelijk ontvangen in een vertrouwde warme sfeer.
Aan de hand van professioneel stijladvies gaat Laurence Beyaert samen met de klant op zoek naar het perfecte ontwerp. Het resultaat is een unieke jurk gemaakt naar wens en identiteit van de klant.
Ayanne presenteert bovendien een collectie bruidskledij die tevens op maat wordt gemaakt. Laurence Beyaert, de vrouw achter Ayanne, laat zich inspireen door unieke, persoonlijke verhalen die ze met naald en draad vertaalt.
Dit voor de moderne bruid die belang hecht aan persoonlijkheid en authenticityit.
Laurence studeerde in 2006 af als kunsthistorica aan de universiteit van Gent. Nadien startte ze een opleiding modeontwerp in Brussel. Na enkele jaren in het commerciële circuit van de mode-industrie kon ze aan de slag in het atelier van Kaat Tilley. Zij deed haar dromen.
Deze droom wordt in 2012 werkelijkheid met de opening van een eigen couturesalon annex boutique. Met Ayanne gaan we terug naar een tijd waarin eleven maten met precisie werden opgemeten en eleven ideeën en visies kwalitatief werden uitgevoerd. “Zowel het fragiele als het sensuale, de kracht versus de kwetsbaarheid verenigen en verweven.”
Lange Kruisstraat 6K Gent 9000 Belgium
Info
JASNA ROKEGEM
A young and energetic pioneer in combining innovative fashion and cutting-edge technology. Not only in creating unique projects and collections, but also in bringing these to life by using techniques such as virtual and augmented reality. She has a strong vision on the clothing of the future and how it can add value to our daily lives. To achieve more and think further, Jasna likes working closely together with professional partners from around the globe.
These collaborations and projects brought her a lot of recognition and exposure. As a result she received various awards, gives lectures and gets invited to big events in different fields.
In January 2016, aged 23, she founded Jasna Rok, the first FashTech design studio in Belgium.
Jasna Rok provides a window to show the endless possibilities of technology and science today, by making them visible, tangible and understandable for the big audience through interactive fashion.
Raapstraat 6 Antwerpen 2000 Belgium
Info
SENNES combines Portuguese and Belgian tradition, high-sustainable Portuguese Wool & Belgian Linen, two noble, ecological fibers with opposite natural characteristics as guiding principles towards function and shape.
SENNES is globally inspired by climate change in nature and culture, therefore conceived as an annual wardrobe. A continuous developing collection where with every series of bags & garments, high quality woven fabrics, know-how and skills from ethno cultural origins are studied and subsequently interpreted in each individual pattern language.
A sustainable brand with a focus on uniquely textile crafted design. The human collective culture is our inspiration to create new collection items; each new design is a genuine attempt to open up new perspectives to intercultural dialogue.
Nele De Block
Art Director and founder Nele De Block is Belgian and studied Textile Design at ENSAV La Cambre, Brussels.
She develops her passion and technical skills for weaving at first as a textile designer for automotive.
She then becomes Art Director for BETET SKARA: (Antwerp, 1999-2007) originally created as a social integration program for political Assyrian refugees. In this weaving studio she conducts the process of woven prototyping and production for fashion designers, artists and architects such as Haider Ackermann, Christian Wynants, Bruno Pieters, Stijn Helsen, Tim Van Steenbergen, Bernhard Willhelm, Dries Van Noten and Peter Pilotto.
Simultaneous she teaches Textile Design at Saint Lucas Art School Ghent and is trend forecaster for the Textile Industry.
SENNES is setup in 2010, when Nele is introduced in Portugal as a textile designer to one of the last remaining traditional wool weavers of the Serra da Estrela region.
Since SENNES combines Portuguese and Belgian tradition, high-sustainable Portuguese Wool & Belgian Linen, two noble, ecological fibers with opposite natural characteristics as guiding principles towards function and shape.
Hofstraat 5 Antwerp 2000 Belgium
Info
Raising the concept of a scarf to the status of an exceptional item imbued with character. That is what Emmanuel Demuynck of the Belgian company Monsieur Maison succeeds in time after time. And with flair. One could describe his creations as unique stories. They are almost poetic and above all beautiful. They are the fruit of an exciting search for rare couture and haute couture fabrics from days gone by, the unique combinations of which today constitute the clearly recognisable trademark of Monsieur Maison. With each of his scarves, Emmanuel creates a link to a very special figure from the 20th century.
The secret of the perfection of Monsieur Maison scarves lies in its capacity to create the perfect blend of designs, colours and fabrics.
The scarves are made in Belgian workshops which is a very conscious choice on the part of the designer. The workshops guarantee an outstandingly high-quality approach and the seamless translation of what Monsieur Maison seeks to communicate in its unique models. The handwork and the know-how result in quality and durability, two aspects that are very important to Demuynck.
Who is the designer Emmanuel Demuynck?
Emmanuel studied painting at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts in Ghent. In addition to designing this collection, he also offers his freelance services for design and merchandising projects. He is also a purchaser and consultant for Belgian labels and multi-brand stores.