The review originally appeared as part of the story “Maison Margiela, Lanvin and Dries Van Noten RTW Spring 2017.” Read the full story here.
Dries Van Noten has made unsettling the familiar a hallmark of his career. After last season’s dazzling treatise on gender identity (and how to work snake imagery with aplomb), he took spring as an opportunity to be less specifically story-driven, delving deeply into what seems like a basic idea: opposites. He intended the theme literally, during a preview running through a litany of specific clothing-related counterpoints: “from burlap to more sophisticated jacquards; black to white; oversize to small.” And, of course, the base contrast of feminine-masculine plays from harmonious to dissonant.
Van Noten showed on a set that instilled wonder, installed with a series of floral bouquets running the length of the runway. Big and joyful, yet frozen in giant blocks of ice by artist Azuma Makoto, they looked eerily beautiful. (In a bit of unintended contrast, the hands-off blocks of ice made the steamy show space feel all the hotter — sort of like the mirage of a crystal lake in the desert.)
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The models walked between the two rows of floral ice. Among the contrasts they embodied was that of simplicity and adornment, so Van Noten opened with a perfectly plain white T-shirt and off-white canvas shorts. Around the neck: a small black Victorian embroidery. The counterpoints would intensify throughout the collection: the T-shirt gave way to intense jacket constructions; lowly white cotton and linen to big, splashy flowers and intricate silk jacquards; a hint of jeweling at the neck to major embroideries, the snappy white to black rendered as a deliberately mournful take on chic.
And chic it was. Van Noten is a master at making us feel so much emotion, we can lose sight of the parade of great merch passing by — almost. In typical fashion, he offered a trove of wardrobe wonders — great coats, dresses, skirts, pants — some plain, some fancy, all equal parts practical and powerful. Familiarity unsettled to fabulous effect.
The review originally appeared as part of the story “Maison Margiela, Lanvin and Dries Van Noten RTW Spring 2017.” Read the full story here.