Now 64, Van Noten emerged from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the early Eighties as part of a group of designers, including Walter van Beirendonck and Ann Demeulemeester, hailed as the Antwerp Six. The most famous and commercially successful of the bunch, the third-generation tailor is a connoisseur of contradictions; the brilliance of his work lies in his matchless tailoring and the way he combines textures, patterns, colours and styles—think slouchy streetwear silhouettes paired with delicately tailored couture, for example.

His inspirations run the gamut from Eastern European folklore (women’s SS2005) to the Zazou subculture developed in Paris during the Second World War (men’s SS2023) and photos on his team members’ iPhones (men’s SS2022). “I constantly need new impressions. I want to go from something really antique but then afterwards I want to be in a very contemporary building,” says Van Noten, whose studio in Antwerp is located in an old harbour park from which he has uninterrupted views of a ship-filled dock. “I just want to be challenged the whole time. [That’s why] I really like going to and staying in big cities like Tokyo or Hong Kong.”

The brand brought back physical shows last October for the spring-summer 2023 collection after a two-year hiatus; when the pandemic began, presentations and appointments went online. The collection also reflected the zeitgeist, the men’s runway emphasising both the human desire for protection and for the intimacy of physical touch through gender-neutral designs including narrow-waisted disco suits and flowing tank tops. “Maybe the lockdowns gave young guys the time to look around more and to be interested again in motivational tailoring. The direction is very positive; people really loved it”, he says.

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“In the past, I made collections which were reflecting what was happening in the world. Then at a certain moment [I felt] that what was happening in the world was so ugly, I’d better do something which makes you dream, which increases our distance from reality [and serves as] kind of an escape”, Van Noten says. “But now I don’t want really just to escape; I think that part also has to be the reality.”

The SS23 womenswear show in Paris portrayed both that need for protection—represented by oversized silhouettes and heavy fabrics, all in black—and Van Noten’s optimism about the future, shown in pastel-coloured pieces in soft fabrics, and a final “chapter” featuring his familiar floral explosion, which he expanded this season to artsy footwear. “It was quite symbolic of optimism”, Van Noten says. It was also a long-awaited moment that saw friends of the brand reunite and feel a shift in perspective. When the models walked out for the finale covered in blooms, the audience erupted in applause and cheers.

Despite embracing digital formats for fashion presentations since the pandemic, he did miss the physical shows. “A fashion show is the grand finale of a creative process. You worked on all those clothes, all the fabrics, all the developments. It’s really nice that you can create that moment where you can decide the models, the hair, the make-up, the light, the sound, everything, but also share it with people in the same room; in the ten minutes during which you sit there, you feel the same emotions about everything”, he says. “And I always liked it because that, for me, is really the end of the season. So we’re back to that, which is good.”

When he’s not designing or travelling, Van Noten can be found in his 19th-century neoclassical estate in Lier, near Antwerp, 22 hectares of park that he gardens with his life partner Patrick Vangheluwe. “I live with nature. When I go on holiday, [Vangheluwe] and I have a house in Italy, which is nearly built in the sea,” he says. “For me, it has a healing factor.”

He also appreciates the lack of human control in nature; unlike in the fashion world, where people decide what happens when, if someone wants a certain kind of flower, they have to plant it at the correct moment. “As a person working in fashion, it’s a very good balance, because every time, nature pulls you to your feet on the ground and dictates [your actions]. And I think that keeps me quite balanced.”

The two worlds do collide. Known as a master of prints and patterns, Van Noten used photographs of flowers he’d grown to create prints seen on the silk dresses, lacquered trench coats and chiffon tops of his women’s AW2019 collection. And last March, the Belgian translated his love of nature to a new medium—cosmetics. He signed up with Spanish fashion and fragrance giant Puig group in 2018 and spent three-and-a-half years developing his inaugural beauty line. “I said it has to be a collection for so many different ages, men, women, different nationalities, different groups.”

The result is a line of ten genderless floral scents, lipsticks and accessories that are packaged in two-toned, juxtaposed patterns drawn from Van Noten’s print collection. Further reflecting his love of the natural world, the bottles are refillable. “You can go to the store to get the bottle refilled or order refills online. But you can also use your bottle for something else: I know people who bought it and also use it as a vase.”

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As the pandemic began to impact the fashion industry, Van Noten was one of the first to call for fewer discounts to discourage shopping for the sake of it; a simpler fashion calendar; and less pollution. He released an online manifesto and video forums stressing the importance of focusing on creating “less, but better”. “You have to do it for yourself, you have to do it for your customers”, he says. “But I don’t want to [market] it— that’s greenwashing.”

Like Stella McCartney, Chloé and a new wave of young designers, there is an effort in Dries Van Noten shows to minimise waste; while many fashion shows require a truck to collect after-show rubbish, the only thing Van Noten’s team had to dump after the SS2023 show was two rolls of recycled paper. “We didn’t build anything special; everything was rented and could go back afterwards to people to be reused. And I think when you see that you can do it in that way, it’s really fun”, he says with a smile.

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“Of course [we were] not perfectly sustainable in the past, [but] we have always tried to create clothes that people can cherish and wear in a lot of different ways, and for a long time.” This has long been a core code for the brand: its archival pieces are seen as staples by vintage lovers, who seek them out on resale sites. “I don’t design total silhouettes, I design garment by garment, so that you can wear them in a lot of different ways”, explains the designer.

“It’s important when they buy something from us, they wear it often for ten years. Then 20 years later, you see an older daughter coming back, you see it [pass] from one generation to another, which I think is the biggest compliment that you can get as a designer.”

Van Noten opened his flagship store in Antwerp 33 years ago, but he has a long connection to Asia, too: he met Joyce Ma, the founder of Joyce boutique and champion of rising labels, in the late 1980s and she brought his collection to Hong Kong. More recently, in 2020, he opened stores in Shanghai and Chengdu, overcoming the struggles of the pandemic to take his designs around the globe. “I respect every country where we open a store,” he says, adding that the Chengdu store features artworks from the region. “It’s not that I just want to bring things from Europe to China; I want to learn and work together with Chinese people also.”

The designer is highly selective when it comes to joint efforts: for his SS2020 collection, he dropped what the New York Times called “the collaboration to end all collaborations”, inviting French designer Christian Lacroix to return to the industry—which he had left in 2009—and work with him on fantastical, modern, couture-worthy looks which brought together embroidery, patterns and ostrich feathers. “That’s one of the highlights, in fact, of my career—not only the show and the collection, but also making that collection with him”, Van Noten says. “If I work with another designer, it really has to be something intriguing and fun; not just [for PR] reasons. It’s important that there is a reason for doing that.”

In November 2022, not long after his conversation with Tatler, the brand launched an unexpected collaboration with Californian streetwear label Stüssy, which was indeed fun. With a campaign starring Flea from rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers and shot by Tyrone Lebon, the capsule collection features everything from tie-dye sweatpants to a glistening rhinestoned smoking suit, evoking both a sense of nostalgia and the youthful spirit of both labels.

We ask if there is any element of Dries Van Noten that is immutable; set in stone for the ages. “I don’t want to stay the same; I think we have to evolve. And we have to adapt to the needs of the world. I don’t want to be nostalgic and say, ‘Oh, in the past, it was much better’”, he says emphatically. “Now, after the pandemic, for me, the personal context is very, very important. The storytelling, the explaining why and how to people [who are physically there], and [the fact] that you really can show and explain garments: that for me stays fantastic and beautiful.”

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