Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten to step down as creative director

The renowned Belgian designer Dries Van Noten, whose extravagant use of color and fabric wowed the fashion world for nearly forty years, said on Tuesday that he will leave his position as creative director of his own company at the end of June.  

Master of mixing the modern and the vintage, Van Noten, 65, announced in a statement that the 2025 men's spring-summer collection will be his final one under his current position. He went on to say that his studio will create the women's line.  

He stated that Van Noten's replacement will be revealed at a later time.  

“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. 

Although he will relinquish his role as creative director, Van Noten will still be involved in the fashion house. 

Fashion firm Puig acquired a majority share in Van Noten in 2018, with the designer remaining creative director of the brand, which has expanded into beauty and fragrance. Van Noten said Puig's takeover has helped the brand to keep “blooming.” 

"Like in a garden, you decide what to plant; and at some point, it continues to flourish," he said. 

Van Noten graduated from the fashion design course at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium in 1981 and debuted his first collection five years later. His first flagship store opened in 1989 in Antwerp, the Belgian port city where he was born into a family of tailors. 

As Antwerp developed a reputation of Europe’s capital of cool, Van Noten emerged as a major creative force as part of “The Antwerp Six,” a collective that also included Walter Van Beirendonck, Ann Demeulemeester, Dirk Van Saene, Dirk Bikkembergs and Marina Yee. 

“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.” 

In 1991, Van Noten debuted with a menswear collection during Paris Fashion Week. Two years later he held his debut womenswear show on the catwalks of the French capital city. Van Noten has presented two menswear and two womenswear exhibitions annually ever since. 

His autumn display during Paris Fashion Week last month was a visual feast of contrasts and illusions. The sleeves' inventive use of perspective to create practically two-dimensional effects challenges the viewer's gaze. In a ballet of material and shape, sweaters appeared to come to life and embrace their wearers. 

Van Noten's signature dynamic energy and poetry were produced by the interaction of textures and colors. 

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