Thursday, June 25, 2009

Dries Van Noten Menswear Spring 2010


Day one in Paris and not too much to write home about, overall. Balenciaga was drawing far too many “influences” from others, Julius was along the same lines, Juun J. continues the struggle to live up with his hype and continues fail miserably – you get the idea. But then there was Dries!

There are so many amazing pieces here and the color palette is stunning. While I generally adore his nerdy, romantic and slightly quirky aesthetic and not to mention his notoriously amazing print work… I love the relaxed formality of this… it is comfortable but nothing looks sloppy; everything is so sharp. The relaxed fit and air of ease of it all is so beautiful for this season. Outerwear is amazing also, I love the materials and shapes of the jackets. Proportion-wise, for me, Dries is always a dream and this is no different; the awesome silhouettes are subsequent to his perfect cuts and the shapes they create.

His work doesn’t show the ugly ambivalence of trying to balance trends and frills along with his vision – because he doesn’t. This is especially relieving in a time where designers are increasingly rehashing and borrowing from one another’s concepts. With Dries, we don’t have to look at his works meanwhile making correlations or comparisons with other designers, or to wonder if there’ll be an entirely new look each season or anything like that. And without these distractions, we’re really allowed to simply enjoy his work for what it is… and what it is is refreshing and consistently good.

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