Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten to step down

The Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten has announced he is stepping down as creative director of his fashion label this summer.

Van Noten, 65, is set to leave after the next Paris fashion week menswear show in June.

Known for his luxurious colours and avant garde styles, Van Noten began as part of the so-called Antwerp Six who trained at the city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts in the 1980s. Other members included Walter Van Beirendonck and Ann Demeulemeester.

In a statement, Van Noten said his career had been “a dream come true”.

“I want to shift my focus to all the things I never had time for. I’m sad, but at the same time, happy,” he said.

Van Noten added that his successor would be announced “in due time”, and his studio team would handle the next womenswear collection.

“I have been preparing for this moment for a while, and I feel it’s time to leave room for a new generation of talents to bring their vision to the brand,” Van Noten said.

Though not a household name, Van Noten is a hero for many in the fashion world, where he is often known simply as DVN.

He grew up as the third generation of a family of tailors, and worked first as a freelancer before launching his own collection of menswear in 1986. As Antwerp developed a reputation one of Europe’s most fashionable cities, Van Noten emerged as a major creative force.

“In the early 80s, as a young guy from Antwerp, my dream was to have a voice in fashion,” he said. “Through a journey that brought me to London, Paris and beyond, and with the help of countless supportive people, that dream came true.”

He won the international designer of the year award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2008, and celebrated his 100th fashion show in 2017 with a blockbuster event for which models including Alek Wek, Liya Kebede and Nadja Auermann came out of runway retirement to appear again.

“My joy is to create a garment that fuses and balances beauty, craft and function,” Van Noten said in an interview on his website. I enjoy juggling with colours, textures and light in a way that evokes rather than provokes.”

His latest womenswear collection, presented this month in Paris, was lauded for bringing a note of colour and excitement to everyday items. The fashion site WWD described it as “audacious everyday”, a counterpoint to the recent trend for “quiet luxury”.

Van Noten sold a majority stake in his label to the Spanish conglomerate Puig in 2018, but remained chair of the board and creative director.

The brand has added beauty and perfume lines, and expanded into e-commerce since Puig’s takeover.

Van Noten finished his letter by thanking his clients and fans.

“Seeing our clothes out in the world … has fulfilled me beyond words,” he said.