Author
James Darton
Contributing Editor
If you’re the sort of person who happens to take an interest in such things, then picture for a moment the Antwerp Six: that infamous band of Belgian designers who packed their 1986 graduate collections into a van and preceded to take LFW by storm. What springs to mind immediately? Perhaps its the dark, Romantic vision of Patti Smith-confidante, Ann Demeulemeester. Maybe the outlandish cartoon creations of Walter Van Beirendonck or even the most famous of them all (the unofficial member-who-never-actually-was), Mr Martin Margiela.
What’s curious is that Dries Van Noten, arguably the most consistently brilliant of them all, manages to recede so often into the background. In the context of such larger than life characters (Margiela having gained near-mythological status even), the mild-mannered Van Noten is often characterised as the conservative of the group.
Which is a little unfair really. It’s true, Van Noten may be a private person both personally and in business (the brand does no advertising and has resisted the overtures of a buy-out over the years to remain wholly owned by its eponymous creator). Most importantly though, and despite generally adhering more closely to conventional silhouettes than his Antwerp contemporaries, the striking prints, patterns and textures he puts down the runway each season elicit adulation in the way that few designers do.
And of course what would a good print and pattern-centric designer be without an unwavering devotion to florals. Across both menswear and womenswear, Van Noten achieves the remarkable feat of elevating his floral patterns in a way that somehow feels both decadent and vaguely subversive. This remains the case whatever collection you dip into: blowing up and blowing out a motif of oversized petals on a blazer in a way that appears tie-dyed at first glance; painting elegant Japanese blooms across silken shirting; even just piling flowery pattern upon flowery pattern in ways that should never work yet somehow always, perfectly, does.
So below we salute some of our favourite florals from the Belgian designer: extravagance conjured from understatement.
![1 Floom Magazine Florals In Fashion Dries Van Noten Vogue 2](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_dries_van_noten_vogue_2.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=5803c4361fe5dd7346b3ec5a7e2b1b01 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_dries_van_noten_vogue_2.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=50ec363d6a47bbc95173f3054da08f36 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_dries_van_noten_vogue_2.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=1ec95f377b8f9a93d69b29a419d99142 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_dries_van_noten_vogue_2.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=423c54ee31ca3bc6d468d737df8301f3 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Florals In Fashion Dries Van Noten Vogue 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_dries_van_noten_vogue_1.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=759308a16368e27abaee2274b3185e4c 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_dries_van_noten_vogue_1.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=ac0ee9608274ab4bce55d7f8b969d30b 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_dries_van_noten_vogue_1.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=fea20874d7dbd1ba0419857f40273c8e 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_dries_van_noten_vogue_1.jpeg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=95b2f5695b32414fad82231f1d75ca00 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Florals In Fashion 2 Dries Van Noten Nutterbuster 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_2_dries_van_noten_nutterbuster_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=82817b95703e08fd1085c477276c91df 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_2_dries_van_noten_nutterbuster_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=1a98e6e430063f799f5aae45aa1030c5 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_2_dries_van_noten_nutterbuster_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=4e74ca406fc24a48f08aa93a2c60dfed 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_florals_in_fashion_2_dries_van_noten_nutterbuster_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=b26a0451fb2b2a3608470bb97b170676 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Floral In Fashion 2 Dries Van Noten Chaos Mag 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_floral_in_fashion_2_dries_van_noten_chaos_mag_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=f92dbae3b0ca3912cf3c973bafefd2ac 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_floral_in_fashion_2_dries_van_noten_chaos_mag_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=3d2027d5e28215f334f4fe6c168ba05a 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_floral_in_fashion_2_dries_van_noten_chaos_mag_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=7bceda4c3e2b12ace98f0719dea7ce08 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_floral_in_fashion_2_dries_van_noten_chaos_mag_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=1c1ba58370f2194419f0024df2c046c2 400w)
Photo Credit:
Vogue
Nutterbuster
Chaos Mag