It’s an exciting time to be a disciple of Dries Van Noten. The iconic Belgian designer has finally greenlit a documentary about his life and career, which will take fans into his Antwerp atelier and exquisite garden estate later this year. Dries also recently celebrated his 100th fashion show at Paris Fashion Week, and will be marking the occasion by opening up his archives. Every day for the next 100 days, a different video of a Dries fashion show will be posted on the brand’s website in a random order. The first one revisits Dries’s spring/summer 94 collection, the vibrancy and romance of which is reflected in its stirring soundtrack.
“You can’t show an emotion,” Dries explained to i-D in 2015 while discussing his typically boundary-pushing show soundtracks. “So I say, now you’re gonna get it really full-on, with the music, with the lights, with the whole thing, because I want to create emotion.” The spring/summer 94 show segues from Elvis’s “Love Me Tender” to warmhearted slow jams including Björk’s “Come to Me,” Johnny Cash’s “The Wanderer,” Julee Cruise’s “Summer Kisses Winter Tears,” and The King’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Each video will appear on Dries’s website with the OST for 24 hours before being filed under his “silent archives.” Keep a particularly keen eye out for the spring/summer 07 men’s show, for which 80s underground reggae-rocker Jah Wobble re-recorded a whole song after not being able to find the original samples. The things we do for Dries.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Photography Martin Zähringer