EXCLUSIVE: Dries Van Noten's Artisanal Denim Has Hidden Meaning
Dries Van Noten, arguably the most well-known member of the Antwerp Six insofar as his brand's visibility and reach, doesn't really do seasonal capsules or collaborations. Sure, Van Noten's biannual collections occasionally team up with the artists that inspire his creative process but that's about as far as he goes — those collections are big enough as is.
However, for Spring/Summer 2023, Dries Van Noten is dipping (literally) into denim for a rare mid-season capsule collection, a true anomaly for the Belgian fashion legend.
The clothing is cool too, don't get me wrong, but the concept of expanding Van Noten's purview beyond his mainline collections (the stuff seen) is practically unheard of beyond one-offs like his Stüssy collab.
Of course, this being Dries Van Noten, this surprise SS23 drop is still rooted in his own design codes, building on a theme established over a decade ago (when you've been in fashion for nearly 40 years, you have plenty of past concepts to pull from).
This denim-centric offering riffs on a motif seen in Dries Van Noten's Spring/Summer 2011 womenswear collection, wherein pastel suits and silky floral slips were given the ombré treatment, one hue smoothly blending into another and delicate flowers melding into solid tones of pale summer whites.
The inspiration was Belgian painter Jef Verheyen, whose abstract paintings frequently depicted graceful gradients of gently contrasting colors.
Van Noten's SS23 denim capsule runs with the ombré motif inspired by Verheyen but utilizes utilitarian denim in place of delicate duchesse.
As such, Van Noten eschews the printing techniques seen in 2011 for bleach dipping, a comparatively rougher treatment that accordingly results in comparatively rougher blends.
It's a fitting look for denim, which is itself a more hard-wearing textile than the lightweight drapiness epitomized by Van Noten's SS11 collection.
Still, it's equally artisanal, as each piece of clothing had to be hand-treated to affect the desired high-contrast result.
The entire SS23 denim capsule will be available via Dries Van Noten's website, SSENSE's website, and their respective physical stores from April 19.
