A Patient Dries Van Noten Store for a "Faster, Bolder" City (EXCLUSIVE)
Dries Van Noten, ever the workaholic, may have stepped back from designing for his eponymous line but he's hardly retired. Van Noten is keeping terrifically busy with all manner of extracurricular activities as disparate as scent exploration and overseeing his label's first flagship store in New York City.
Well, his name is still on the brand, after all.
Van Noten was directly involved in the shaping of his new NYC flagship store in the same way that he directed his Los Angeles shop, which opened in 2020, and the boutique that he recently opened in Shanghai. In fact, Van Noten very much has his hands full with retail design, as the DVN brand plots major international expansion in the months to come.
But first, DVN opens in New York.
"New York has always been a key city for Dries Van Noten —not just commercially, but emotionally," DVN CEO Axel Keller explains. "We’ve been fortunate to have incredibly loyal clients here. Opening a flagship now isn’t just about retail; it’s about presence."
We've all heard it before but I take the sentiment seriously when Keller says it. Because Dries Van Noten was always more of a feeling than a clothing brand. I mean, the clothes are great, yes, but Van Noten's luxury label exists within an expansive world that luxury peers could only dream of matching. If it sounds cliché, it's only because no one but Van Noten has so naturally affected this approach for decades.
But it's true. Spring/Summer 2025's metallic blazers, floral shirts, densely embroidered jackets, and billowing cargo pants are individually covetable, imminently wearable, and fluidly stylish. They look darn good as separates but taken as a whole, they paint a complete picture of intentional excess. These are artful garments whose real-world cuts and rich fabrics are nevertheless quite approachable.
Oh, and SS25 is the final collection overseen by Van Noten himself. So, how 'bout heading to the new DVN NYC store to see it in-person?
"It’s something I’ve dreamed about for years, but we believe in the right timing and place," says Van Noten. "This store comes at a moment when the brand is evolving.
"Each city has its own rhythm and energy, and we try to reflect that in every space we open. In Antwerp, there’s a quiet appreciation for detail: people take their time, and there’s a certain intimacy. In Tokyo, there’s a deep respect for craftsmanship and subtlety. New York is faster, bolder, more direct — but that’s what makes it so exciting."
And Van Noten's answer to "faster, bolder, more direct" of course means a sumptuously ornate outpost that looks as much like an old-age salon, where intellectuals gathered to discuss lofty ideas, as it does a clothing store.
"We see this opening as a new chapter," Keller says. New creative director Julian Klausner's "debut was about rediscovering the codes, reimagining the familiar and pushing it forward. That same spirit lives in the space. A flagship is about telling our story in the Dries Van Noten way."
That story is reflected in the store's baroquely industrial framework, especially in its gilded and grungy basement. A hard-soft interplay is epitomized by statement flourishes like the crumpled metal sheathe that frames a marble pillar dotted with perfume and the enormous framed painting of Italian monarch Christina of Lorraine sandwiched between dark wooden bookcases.
It's an overtly handsome framing for the real draw, Van Noten's quietly sublime clothes. And expect to see a wide breadth of shoppers perusing Van Noten's wares, as younger admirers begin to enter his world from the ground up.
"I do think this generation is especially attuned to authenticity. They’re drawn to pieces with substance, with soul," Van Noten muses. "The popularity of something like the Suede Sneaker speaks to that — they’re discovering DVN in their own way."
