Dries Van Noten

Born in Antwerp in 1958, Dries Van Noten is the third generation in a family of tailors. At the age of 18, Dries Van Noten enters the fashion design course of Antwerp’s Royal Academy. After graduating, he continues to freelance before going onto producing his own collection of blazers, shirts and trousers. The line met with almost immediate success on its launch in 1986 selling to prestigious customers like Barneys New York, Pauw in Amsterdam and Whistles in London. In September of the same year, he opens a tiny eponymous boutique in Antwerp’s gallery arcade. In 1989 Dries leaves his modest boutique for a five-storey former department store in the Nationalestraat, then a down-at-heel district with little promise. Van Noten set about restoring it, retaining many of the original fixtures and fittings, including the name Het Modepaleis. In 2007, Dries Van Noten opens a boutique in Paris, followed in 2009 by Tokyo and a men’s shop in Paris. In June 2008, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) honoured Dries Van Noten with the International Award, followed in December 2008 by the distinction of “Royal Designer for Industry” (RDI) from the RSA Trustee Board in London. In 2009, the Flemish Chamber of Commerce (VOKA) inducted Dries into the “Galerie des Eminents”; the Flemish Royal Academy of Belgium gifted him with the Gold Medal (“Gouden Penning”), and the Couture Council of the Museum at FIT in New-York honoured him with the “Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion”. In May 2010 Dries Van Noten is invited to preside over the 25th edition of the “Festival International de Mode et de Photographie” of Hyeres (France), and in 2014 he presides the jury of the 7th “A Shaded View on Fashion Film” Festival (ASVOFF). On the same year his work is featured at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. “Inspirations” was the very first exhibition devoted to the designer’s work and took the record number of visitors. In 2015, the exhibition moves to Antwerp’s MoMu. In July, Dries Van Noten is appointed Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by Jack Lang, President of the Institut du Monde Arabe. In August, a new shop in Osaka in partnership with Tomorrowland is opened. In November, Dries Van Noten designs the costume for dance-chamber opera Hagoromo directed by David Michalek at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and in September 2016 he designs costumes for New York City Ballet fall fashion gala with choreographer Justin Peck. In October, Dries Van Noten wins the Culture Award from The Province of Antwerp for his contribution to Culture. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Dries Van Noten collaborated on several performances, including “Drumming” (1998) and “Rain” (2001).

As of November 2019