Dries Van Noten Knows How To Deftly Navigate Controversy Because He Is The Best

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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If we need another version of the "Bo Knows" commercials that can apply to fashion, we should probably start with "Dries Knows" because Dries fucking knows. In a recent interview with The Independent, Dries touched on a lot of things from styling celebrities in DVN to his most recent collection and his ability to mix inspirations from the past with modern looks. But his most apt passage comes in the midst of so many conversations about cultural appropriation.

He talks about how running his business doesn't qualify as a competition against other brands and instead describes it as a "responsibility" to those who work for him from the printers to the cottage location in India where 3,000 people work. That wide-reaching business helps guide his designs with global influences leaking into his prints. He's well known for handling the responsibility of accurate portrayal and treating the symbols with respect: "When it's sacred, when it's religious, you have to be careful. You can't just do whatever you want. It's not just an object; it's not just a thing. I want to pay respect to that; I think there are enough things in the world that you don't have to go that way."

Of course Dries knows how to handle a complicated controversy with eloquent, sensitive and rational reasoning. I mean, this is Dries we're talking about after all and for that we'll always be thankful.

[Photo via Flanders Today]

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