Gotta love Dries, man. A few days after doing a nice interview with Vestoj, he pops up again, this time with The Talks. This is from a couple days ago, but anytime Dries shows up for an interview, we're contractually obligated to take notice. Here, DVN talks about continuing the company without him at the helm, being an independent brand that's spread around the world in stores, using runway shows instead of ad campaigns and the importance to selling everything in the collection. Read a few highlights below and see the full conversation at The Talks.
On producing every runway look for stores:
Yes, and for me that is absolutely necessary. We don’t make couture; we make prêt-à-porter. And I’m very strict with that. For me, if you want to make dreams, make haute couture and show it without pretending that you’re doing something that people can find afterwards even though you don’t sell it. For me, that’s not right. I really want to show reality, not some kind of theory, like, “This is the way that fashion could look like, but you’ll never be able to get it.”
On preferring shows to advertising:
I thought we could reach more people with a show than with publicity. Also when you’re going to do publicity, you have to choose your muse. You have to choose the person who stands for everything that you’re doing. A boy and a girl. And then, is she young? Old? Blonde? Black? What skin color does she have? Is she soft? Hard? Romantic? Is he tough? Muscular? Skinny? So you automatically kick out a big group of people who don’t identify with the person that they see in your publicity. In that way a fashion show is more neutral. You already have a group of, like, 40 or 50 models.
On people collecting his clothes like art:
I don’t think they collect it like art. They collect it like things they cherish, with memories attached to it. It becomes very personal. One of the most charming things I’ve seen with my work was when I visited a store in Boston. The shop owner had the idea of asking all the people who bought our clothes to bring those clothes back with a photograph of them wearing them in a certain situation. It was really touching because you saw all the parties, weddings, births – all the different things that happen in a human life – presented with a garment from ten years ago and a hand-written note by the person who was wearing it. As a designer, it was really a confrontation, like, “Huh?” You start to mean something to those people.
