Dries Van Noten Choose Fantasy For the SS27

Julian Klausner opened the Dries Van Noten SS27 collection with a poem, and it genuinely shaped everything that followed. Mallarmé’s L’Après-midi d’un faune tells the story of a dream-like creature who wakes from a nap in the woods unsure whether the nymphs he dreamed of were real or imagined. In the end, he chooses not to find out. He falls back asleep. Fantasy wins.

Everything in the collection has that quality. Tailoring flows rather than holds. Transparent trench coats, parkas in washed pongé silk, charmeuse silks with spaghetti straps, bare legs under short shorts. The palette fades into skin, blush and earthy tones lit by intense greens and blues, while sequins shimmer like sunlight hitting water. Denim bleached in cloudy patterns, broderie anglaise on jersey tops, moonlight printed in silk for after-dark tailoring.

Small, strange details complete the picture. Found object charms laid along little chains like a bird building a nest, beer capsules, keys and screws mixed with twigs. Loose, delicate and ready to fly away, exactly as Klausner intended.