- Dries van Noten
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Dries Van Noten Born May 12, 1958
AntwerpNationality Belgian Education Antwerp Fashion Academy Occupation Fashion designer Awards 2008 - International Award of the Council of Fashion Designers of America Labels Dries Van Noten Website www.driesvannoten.be Dries Van Noten (born 1958) is a Belgian fashion designer and an eponymous fashion brand. In 2005, the New York Times described him "one of fashion's most cerebral designers".[1] His style is said to be "eccentric", and fell out of favor during the long period of minimalistic fashion in the early 1990s, only to make a come back towards the mid 2000s,[1][2] culminating with Van Noten's winning of the International Award of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2008. On the same year, he dressed actress Cate Blanchett for the Academy Awards.
Van Noten was born into a family of garment makers and traders: his father owned a menswear shop and his grandfather was a tailor. He graduated from the Antwerp Academy in 1980, and began his career in 1986, when he presented his first menswear collection in London as part of the The Antwerp Six collective. That led to a small order from Barneys New York, a store that still stocks his merchandise regularly.[2] Van Noten currently creates four collections a year (men's and women's, both for summer and winter).
The brand does not offer haute couture; all of its designs are ready to wear and available at retail: "'I'm a little naive but I don't like the idea of showing things that you don't sell in a store", said Van Noten in a recent interview.[1] His work is said to be characterized by use of prints, colors, original fabrics and layering. He does not advertise.[3]
While Dries Van Noten works and lives in Antwerp, the brand has shops in multiple locations worldwide. The first, opening in Antwerp in 1989, was "Het Modepaleis". Shop openings in Hong Kong and Tokyo followed. In early 2007, a shop was opened in Paris, decorated with antiques collected by Van Noten and his partner Patrick Vangheluwe,[4] followed ten months later by a shop in Singapore.[2] The brand is also said to be carried in some 400 fashion shops around the world.[2] As the brand is a private company, not much is known about its financial affairs, although it claims to have annual sales of some 30 million euro.[2]
Van Noten and Vangheluwe reside in a nearly seven acre house outside of Antwerp, where Van Noten exercises his passion for gardening.[1]
References
- ^ a b c d Colman, David (June 19, 2005). "Just Step on the Gas and Say Om". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/fashion/sundaystyles/19POSS.html?.
- ^ a b c d e "Making his own way in the fashion world". Asiaone.com. November 10, 2007. http://www.asiaone.com/Just+Woman/News/Beauty+%2526+Fashion/Story/A1Story20071112-35975.html.
- ^ Givhan, Robin (October 8, 2004). "Clothes Ready For Takeoff On the Paris Runways". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16659-2004Oct7.html.
- ^ Browne, Alix (April 1, 2007). "Home Shopping". T Style Magazine (New York Times). http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/style/tmagazine/04remix.and.dries.t.html.
External links
- Dries Van Noten's official website
- Dries van Noten – designer profile at Fashion Model Directory
Categories:- 1958 births
- Living people
- Belgian fashion designers
- People from Antwerp
- LGBT fashion designers
- High fashion brands
- Alumni of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp)
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