(ZOE JOUBERT)
The air was thick with a mixture of sombre resignation and a palpable sense of pleasure on 22 June 2024. Proper on the outskirts of Paris, beloved Belgian dressmaker Dries Van Noten was about to stage his Spring/Summer season 2025 menswear runway present—his ultimate. Thirty-eight years, 150 collections and 129 exhibits later, Van Noten was ready to take his ultimate bow.
That the present venue, a stunningly rundown defunct manufacturing facility, was additionally the situation of his nonetheless memorable fiftieth runway present was not misplaced on longtime followers of the Antwerp Six member. I requested a PR rep if Van Noten was set to recreate the identical Spring/Summer season 2005 womenswear present the place the runway was basically a protracted dinner desk. “Under no circumstances. However it is going to be very particular,” he mentioned. However after all; I ought to’ve recognized higher. Van Noten’s oeuvre has hardly ever been about wanting again. His deft use of colors, prints and textures have been stylistically refreshing assortment after assortment, and whereas he handled each menswear and womenswear, the previous turned a blueprint of how males select to decorate.
The bodily present invite was easy: “LOVE” printed on a silver foil card. And there was loads of it going round. Pre-show cocktails revolved round an enormous dice onto which Van Noten’s illustrious moments had been projected. As the gang streamed in, I started noticing the great array of Dries Van Noten archives that accompanied them, every interpreted in a single’s personal sense of favor. And whereas it was a on condition that editors from all over the world had congregated, so too had Van Noten’s contemporaries and fellow designers. At one nook was Diane von Furstenberg chatting with Derek Blasberg, Pierpaolo Piccioli arrived along with Haider Ackermann, Harris Reed’s imposing determine was exhausting to disregard, Thom Browne was in traditional Thom Browne, and naturally there have been fellow Antwerp Six members Ann Demeulemeester and Walter Van Beirendonck.
Van Noten made his rounds after some time. Collectively along with his associate, Patrick Vangheluwe, he greeted and thanked friends for his or her attendance, each visibly touched by the quietly deafening awe and respect that permeated by means of. They are saying to “by no means meet your heroes” however I took the chance to ask for a photograph collectively.
“I’m a ceaselessly fan. Thanks on your brilliance,” I managed to muster after our fast snap.
“Thanks,” he replied.
His brilliance continued on within the subsequent room as pitch black curtains fell to disclose a silver foil runway set atop the concrete flooring. The 69-look assortment was showcased by female and male fashions previous and new to the model. From Karen Elson to Cole Mohr to Clément Chabernaud to Sang Woo Kim, it was a true-to-form numerous solid. I noticed Thomas Riguelle—a mannequin I’ve had labored with earlier than and who I’d gush with over Dries Van Noten collections he’d stroll for all through the years—in a multi-layered match consisting of clashing floral prints. He instructed me the day after: “I’m nonetheless emotional.”
(KAJ LEHNER)
Van Noten is way from the one designer we’ve misplaced in menswear this 12 months.
Just some months prior, Piccioli introduced his departure from Valentino after 25 years on the Maison. Piccioli joined Valentino in 1999 and ultimately turned co-creative director along with Maria Grazia Chiuri in 2009. He then took sole inventive reins in 2016, persevering with the legacy of the Maison in his personal dreamy imaginative and prescient of daring menswear proposals based on Valentino’s couture heritage.
It’s troublesome to discover a Piccioli for Valentino menswear assortment that was nothing in need of awe-inspiring. This was in spite of everything, the person who cleverly collaborated with Japanese designer Jun Takahashi of Undercover in 2019 to create arresting graphics set towards up to date fusions of tailoring and streetwear that will nonetheless slot in with right this moment’s sensibilities. He mashed sometimes couture fabrications like silk taffeta in wealthy hues with denim, and made them related and wearable for the on a regular basis. Who may additionally neglect that one assortment the place Piccioli created his personal shade of pink and bathed half of the gathering with it, juxtaposed with all-black ensembles.
Then, for Valentino’s Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear assortment, it appeared like Piccioli lastly had an off second. Showcased in rooms that had been painted a particular shade of azure blue, it was as if he tried to recreate the Valentino Pink PP magic that had us all enthralled two seasons prior, however with out a lot as a spark. The gathering was so pared again that I used to be left utterly unaware that it was all he needed to give. Little did everyone knows then that he would half methods with the Maison a few months later.
Not like Piccioli’s somewhat surprising departure, the hearsay mill was in overdrive for months with regard to Hedi Slimane’s exit from Celine. It turned an unescapable, ongoing matter amongst editors and insiders—the whats, whys and whens of his leaving. It was nearly baffling too as a result of Celine was then on the cusp of lastly launching its first make-up line, and it even launched a number of new fragrances that had been very a lot Slimane-concocted. The Maison was additionally doing comparatively nicely, buoyed by the presence of its robust military of ambassadors the likes of Lisa and Park Bogum. However the place there’s smoke, there’s hearth.
The exit was confirmed on 2 October. The announcement was brief, itemizing Slimane’s overarching imaginative and prescient for the Maison for the previous seven years that noticed it increasing into menswear, couture and haute parfumerie. After which inside hours, the announcement of Celine’s new creative director was launched. Michael Rider, who had labored below Phoebe Philo throughout her time on the Maison, is because of make his return.
These are simply three of the foremost menswear losses. Different latest exits embrace Glenn Martens out of Y/Venture after 11 years, Phillip Lim from his namesake model, Peter Hawkings’ fast two-collection flip at Tom Ford, and Peter Do from Helmut Lang. The circumstances that led to every are seemingly distinctive—Y/Venture, for instance, is experiencing monetary troubles—however a inventive loss is a loss nonetheless.
There are the explanation why the departure of Van Noten, Piccioli and Slimane are particularly upsetting. Every have constructed such robust legacies that they’ve amassed a fair proportion of admirers and followers—those that will flip as much as a vogue present proudly bedecked of their creations, and people who have adopted the designers’ aesthetics into their very own. Being an ardent fan of 1 is basically a way of life.
Slimane’s singular imaginative and prescient at Celine was initially met with division. The stark distinction from his predecessor’s extra structural varieties and cerebral designs had many feeling that Slimane ought to have began his personal model as an alternative of turning Celine into his personal. But, the imaginative and prescient advanced and have become a universe of its personal, extending right into a haute parfumerie assortment that spawned new classes for the Maison past simply vogue. The look was constant: unapologetically Parisian luxe throughout vogue, magnificence, life-style equipment and an assortment of curated creative partnerships.
Change is fixed. And whereas many are rejoicing over Rider’s appointment at Celine (assuming he’s intent on bringing again the Philo period), these mourning Slimane’s aesthetic will both have to start out binge buying his ultimate designs or resort to resale platforms for his or her repair.
There may be completely no pleasing everybody in vogue. Even probably the most celebrated designers have their fair proportion of critics, particularly with vogue being as subjective as it’s. However altering in hopes of interesting to a wider demographic is hard because of a threat in alienating core buyer demographiscs; clients who’ve grown with the visible language set by Piccioli and Slimane for greater than 5 years now have to alter with the maisons or divert their consideration to a special model. It’s an unlucky conundrum as manufacturers prioritise income over a constant identification.
Valentino has already begun its new period with Alessandro Michele injecting his personal interpretation of what the Maison is. In some ways, it’s a well-recognized aesthetic to when he was helming Gucci, and has resulted in a reception just like how Slimane’s preliminary assortment at Celine was initially considered. And as Slimane has proven, time is required for a full universe to be realised.
On 9 December 2024, Dries Van Noten introduced its new inventive lead. Its Spring/Summer season 2025 womenswear assortment was the primary after Van Noten’s retirement and was designed by the in-house studio group. The spirit of the founder was nonetheless there and it felt prefer it may have very nicely been designed by Van Noten himself, with all the weather that make Dries Van Noten beloved current. But when change is fixed, on the very least, there’s hope that newly put in inventive director Julian Klausner—he’s labored alongside Van Noten since 2018 on the ladies’s collections—will proceed the legacy superbly.
On the finish of Van Noten’s ultimate present, he walked to the center of the silver foil runway and waved to a standing ovation. The dice of projections that was the centrepiece of the pre-show cocktails was uncovered and out got here a disco ball, spinning with sufficient pace to utterly envelop the house with a kaleidoscope of lights. It’s so good, it’s so good, it’s so good coos Donna Summer season as “I Really feel Love” begins to play. On the finish of the day, change is inevitable and all we are able to do is embrace it.
This text was first seen on Esquire Singapore.
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