Dries Van Noten Interview Alert

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Dries Van Noten is, for all intents and purposes, one of the greatest to ever do it. He is a true OG, counted amongst arguably the most famous group of fashion designers ever, the Antwerp Six, helped put Belgium on the map as a fashion destination and possesses a unique signature aesthetic that has become his calling card. While he's not the most prominent public figure in fashion and doesn't give many interview, he sat down with Vestoj to chat about his cerebral and calculated nature. Read this banger carefully, just like he would want you to. Some highlights:

On false nostalgia:

People think that things were easier or more pleasant in the past, but that’s not the case. My team and I often have discussions about this. It’s interesting because I’m an older guy now and they are all very young. When we talk about the 1970s for instance, they think about ABBA as one of the icons of the decade. They don’t know that ABBA at the time was considered to be extremely bad taste – vulgar and completely unfashionable. ABBA was still wearing platform shoes when everyone else had already moved on. What I mean to say is that it’s not always the best versions of the past that live on.

On compromise between making money and creativity: 

I try to do business in the same way. Had we wanted to, we could have had a store in every major city in the world, but that sort of success was never for me. When we open a store I want it to be in a nice location, I want the staff to be people I like. The most important thing to me is that my work is creative. I want to put all my energy and enthusiasm into colours, fabrics – things like that. I don’t automatically think about whether it will sell well or if I’ll earn a lot of money.

On Belgium and the Antwerp Six:

When I started in the mid-Eighties it became clear pretty quickly that to be a Belgian fashion designer was seen as an anomaly. The other designers from Antwerp that I started out with, well, we realised that we wouldn’t fit easily into the system. We had to find our own way. We had no money, so working together made us stronger but forming a group was never a marketing idea. It was just that people couldn’t pronounce our names so we became ‘The Antwerp Six’. I didn’t set out to be different though, it all happened very organically.

On the future of Dries Van Noten, without Dries:

It’s not that it’s important for its own sake, but of course it’s nice to know that what I have built will live on. It’s not that I’m looking to leave anytime soon, I love what I do. But I have to start thinking of the future, because I don’t have eternal life. We have to consider our options. In Antwerp we have over a hundred people working for us and in India there’s a few thousand people just working on our embroidery. It would be a pity to just suddenly say, ‘Okay, that was it – bye!’

On his role in the industry and not doing pre-collections:

I don’t know. We’re not the only ones who work in a different way. There are others. But my decision not to make pre-collections like all the major brands do for example, is based on the fact that we wouldn’t have the time to make it as well as our main collection. My team is not big enough. Also, I want to see every yarn, every palette, every button – every element of every collection. That, to me, is the fun part. I don’t like meetings; I like to be hands-on in the creation. But really, we just do the best we can with what we have.

[Photo via Flanders Today]

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