Dries's Last Women's Collection + Your Spring Wardrobe
...in which I cry about how much I love Dries and explain how to bring the vibe of his final show to your closet!
Listen: I know I’m not the first fashion person to lament the news of designer Dries Van Noten’s retirement, and I certainly won’t be the last. There have been loads of articles in which fashion journalists have been crying about this unassuming Belgian man, and I apologize, but I can’t resist adding to the number of voices rhapsodizing about Dries, too. I’ll tell you why—because Dries’s designs effectively communicate his authenticity, his independence, his respect for craft, and his respect for women, and these are things that cannot be said about most designers in today’s fashion industry. Also, I think his final women’s collection is chock full of cues on how to dress this season and beyond!
I have been drawn to Dries’s clothing since I first saw it in the uptown location of Barneys New York in 2004, but watching the 2017 Reiner Holzemer documentary, Dries, (which you can—and should!—find on Amazon) gave his designs so much more significance for me. The film traces Dries’s journey as part of the Antwerp Six—a group of young designers that shocked and delighted the industry in the early-1980s by being both innovative and from Belgium, which Dries himself described as a cultural backwater at the time—to becoming one of the world’s most respected designers in the first decades of the 2000s.
While that journey is inspiring in itself, it’s the interviews with Dries that make the film for me and help to decode his brand’s appeal. When I rewatched the film yesterday, this was one of the quotes that stood out: “The woman who wears my clothes is more important than the creation.” Yes, the clothes are beautiful as items, but what makes them special is that they’re made with respect for how women want to present themselves, and they’re made with real women’s bodies in mind. I was just looking at the latest YSL collection by Anthony Vaccarello, who is no doubt a talented designer, but these looks are for Barbie dolls, not real women—and especially not for real women over the age of, say, 45 or 50.
Dries’s collections are perhaps the polar opposite. They find ways to accentuate women’s natural shape without over-exposing the body, and the attention to craft and detail is meant to adorn the wearer with something rare and valuable, to comment on the wearer’s uniqueness and value. It’s no surprise that the late legend, Iris Apfel, was among Dries’s most ardent supporters. Her singular taste and style harmonized with Dries’s own authenticity.
It’s also no surprise that Anna Wintour, the figurehead of the fashion establishment, famously refused to wear Dries. He never fit the mold of what a designer should be, as dictated by Wintour’s Vogue. He is even-keeled, not flamboyant, humble, and quiet, which probably irked the hell out of her. The fact that Wintour disliked Dries is perhaps the best indicator of his character and makes me love him ten times more.
I promise I will stop banging on about how much I love Dries, but I just have to mention one last thing. One quote in his documentary absolutely floored me, and it’s this: “A lot of inspiration is coming from things that you don’t like, things you think are ugly, things that hurt your eye.” Dries loved playing with elements that were considered to be in bad taste, to examine what was behind the resistance, to make things less precious, less perfect, and that, I think, is the other key to his appeal. His embrace of the imperfect allows the wearers of his clothes to embrace their own imperfections. Or maybe, it’s the opposite: the women who embrace their own imperfections are the ones who are drawn to his clothes? A chicken-or-the-egg dilemma! Either way, a Dries woman is an interesting, confident, creative, powerful woman, everything I’d like to be.
To say that Dries will be sorely missed is an understatement. His retirement announcement was released not long after his FW 2024 collection was shown in Paris. His last women’s show was truly a triumph and showcases all of the elements that we’ve come to expect and love from Dries—glorious color combos, sumptuous fabrics, interesting details, and silhouettes that are flattering while still feeling current and cool.
Here are a few key elements from a show that is sure to be referenced for decades to come:
The Midi Pencil
The classic pencil but just a little longer. These calf-grazing styles were so beautiful at Dries, but they also popped up in other collections, including at Dior and Prada.
L to R: DRIES, of course!; Gucci, Carven, Prada, Dior (all images from nowfashion.com)
I was thrilled to see this skirt style from Dries because I had recently seen fallen in love with a version by Vince that one of my personal styling clients has. It is so flattering—slimming and makes you look 2 inches taller—and it looks great both dressed up and dressed down. Here’s that magical Vince skirt and a few others that I’ve come across:
L to R: Everlane very cool and chill knit version; Metallic at Anthro (see more metal action below!); The Vince Skirt; Sezane cute print
The styling in these images shows a lot, too. The Vince looks profesh and put-together with a slim top, but the same silhouette goes casual when it’s paired with a roomy tee, as in the Sezane pic. I love love love this skirt!
Whew! Moving on …
Metallics for Day
’s wonderful Cereal Aisle newsletter recently featured a look that I can’t get out of my head. See it at this link, about half way down. It’s the white graphic sweatshirt with a sequin top peeking out below, worn over cuffed tan jeans with rhinestone heels. The juxtaposition of the slouchy sweatshirt and the sequins lit me up inside, and it touches on the high-low dichotomy that Dries explored.Here are two ways Dries showed metallics for day, plus a few more runway examples:
L to R: Dries sequin sleeves with jeans; Dries lurex sweater over sparkly shorts; Undercover sequin skirt under boyish sweater; Ulla Johnson tiered skirt (there’s that long-over-long silhouette again!); Proenza Schouler apron dress (all photos from nowfashion.com)
There are so many ways to pull this off in real life. Maybe it’s just an accessory, like a shoe or bag with shine, or maybe you take it a step further by throwing a sequin jacket on with some slouchy jeans. The copper Ulla skirt below gives it a ladylike vibe, and the grey sparkly sweater is subtle but still fun. Wearing metallic for day says: “I don’t care about convention. I wear what I want when I want, and I do it to make myself happy.” So much power there. May we all harness a bit of it!
Clockwise from L: Ulla Johnson copper skirt; J. Crew sequin jacket; Alohas silver Mary Janes; Bibi Lou gold sandals; J. Crew metallic sweater
The Sweatshirt
Speaking of my favorite newsletter writers in sweatshirt looks, I noticed that
mentioned that she’d been wearing a plain white sweatshirt lately, and it made me take a second look at the versions in the Dries collection.The ones he shows are layered or wrapped around the body in interesting ways (more on that below), which makes them runway-appropriate, but while I appreciate a complicated look, the simple sweatshirt (with graphic or not) is more accessible for everyday. We all have one at the back of a drawer to throw on. The key is, once again, harnessing the good taste-bad taste mashup that Dries perfected by mixing the sweatshirt with something elevated. Below I’m pairing mine with my grandma’s fancy oversized coat (try this trench from Cos) to give it a ladylike element. It could also look great over a midi pencil or with some tailored trousers (try these from Sezane).
Here’s our Dries friend again, and a few cutie sweatshirts from around the internet:
Clockwise from L: Dries again!; Clare V. graphic sweatshirt; the nicest grey sweatshirt from J. Crew; Varley half-zip styled over a tailored white button-up
Bermuda Shorts
If you’re a child of the 80s like I am, you probably remember your mom wearing these. I know I do. While I remember cringing at the time, I understand why the Bermuda short continues to come and go in fashion: when done right, it offers coverage while channeling a 90s skater vibe that makes it feel less stuffy and more subversive. Our beloved Dries showed them, of course, but they’re very much in the stores at the moment. Here are a few picks:
Clockwise from L: Dries runway look from nowfashion.com; Citizens of Humanity denim version; a tailored one from Cos; love this beautiful pastel blue from Staud; soft linen from Cos again
The Stole/Wrap
The look that I immediately loved from the latest Dries collection was this strange bright pink wrap situation over a white shirt with a cerulean skirt. What was this contraption on top, and why did it look so right and yet so weird? As I cruised through the collections, I found that other designers were putting out similar stole/wrap pieces:
L to R: Dries!!; Proenza; Jason Wu; Fendi (all from nowfashion.com)
While I doubt that many of these will make it to the stores (they’re just too awkward and complicated), I love the interesting volumes they create. It expands our capacity for style when we examine things like this, and it’s fitting that the most striking version would come from our friend, Dries.
xx,
Joanna