Presented in Paris last year, Dries Van Noten’s SS25 collection was introduced to onlookers by the words “there is no beginning, no end”. And although the designer himself noted that the show was not a grand finale, it’s hard not to think of his 150th collection, and last, for the house, following a 38-year tenure, as something of a farewell. Julian Klausner, who has worked alongside Van Noten since 2018, has fittingly been named his successor, as “a natural connection between the past and the future”.

The SS25 lineup was packed with references to signature house codes and its vision for relaxed elegance, conjuring up the idea of the passage of time with floating silhouettes, soft structures and deliberately visible layers that didn’t feel anchored to any spatio-temporal measure.

The juxtaposition of hard-working, worn-in fabrics, matte and sheer, and tactile patterns on leathers and jerseys, as well as a varied colour palette including anything from neutrals to brighter hues such as peach, lime and turquoise, filled the collection with the kind of nuances we’ve come to expect from the Belgian brand. Its inimitable use of print came by way of large, leafy patterns rendered with suminagashi – a traditional Japanese marbling technique that makes every piece unique, while a one-sided foil was used to create a high-impact, silver-to-gold dégradé effect.

“Creating is about leaving something that lives on,” Dries Van Noten said. Indeed, these are collector’s pieces to be worn – and treasured – for ever. Here, four style insiders tell us how.

“From 2012, for about six years, I pretty much only wore Dries Van Noten. I was in my mid-twenties then and had kind of completed my grand tour of obligatory style discovery. The brand represented a more permanent formative wardrobe – the building blocks of learning how to dress – illustrated in a simultaneous respect for and constant updating of conventional dress codes. I became infatuated with the way [Van Noten] mixed historical masculine decoration with a contemporary masculine language. It was ‘proper dressing’, without the conservatism that often comes with it.

“My Dries Van Noten archive is vast. My most treasured piece, which I’m never selling, is a SS14 dark blue canvas coat with gold bullion leaf hand-embroidery all over.

“I thought SS25 embodied the ability to create a cool, contemporary look bedazzled with the hints of history – including the founder’s own – that imbue clothes with soul. I like the leopard top. It’s a good example of a Dries piece that you don’t know if he meant as beautiful or subversive. I appreciate both approaches to leopard. I’d wear it with dark blue jeans and a formal dark grey coat.”

“SS25 was a very special show for me, because ahead of the runway, I visited Dries at his atelier and later at home to go through his entire career, final collection and incredible flower garden. What I loved was the feeling of continuity – he did not look back to his archives too much and still kept it moving forward, even if it was his last show.

“I loved the shapes, the colours and the absolute comfort. Among my favourites, a full blue look with a shirt and pants. It’s a classic shape and you can never go wrong with such shades of blue. I would style it with my signature blue cap.

“Blue striped classic trousers were the first (and the most expensive) piece I bought around 10 years ago, in Paris. Every time I’m unsure of what to wear, I just put them on, they always work. And after countless dry-cleaning, they still look like new – the ultimate quality. What’s surreal, exactly 10 years after purchasing those pants, I had a chance to visit Dries Van Noten in Antwerp and interview him, wearing the exact same pair.

“I can’t wait to see the new direction keeping the house codes, but with a personal, fresh twist. I can already see it and it makes me happy and excited.”

“There are few designers who are able to transport you to a different world, simply through clothes. Dries Van Noten is one of those designers – every collection is like a kaleidoscopic voyage, testament to the power of clothes. There is a worldly humanity that underlies his clothes, from the mills that produce the textiles to the embroiderers that enrich them, be it in Lyon or Rajasthan. Artisanal is a word that comes to mind. And independence, which famously defined his career as one of the few designers who built a business by fostering deep personal collections with his customers.

“His clothes were some of the first I bought when I started working in fashion – not just because they were beautiful and always felt like a piece of the incredible runway shows, but because they were fairly priced compared to most big luxury houses, and even better made. I still have a sumptuous racing green velvet suit that felt like the perfect blend of sharpness and richness and a tapestry jacket that is cut like vintage denim, but imbued with the sentimental warmth of history.

“Dries Van Noten’s collections are like treasure troves of references, colours and textures – a quixotic blend of nostalgia, handcraft, exuberance and androgyny and pop cultural references. I think that’s why everyone loves Dries Van Noten. Ultimately, the clothes, in all their contrasts and diversity, have been the centre of what he does, untarnished by marketing gimmicks. He tells stories through clothes, which is what every great designer does.”

“It’s a tricky thing to articulate, even for a writer, but I think there’s something in Dries Van Noten's aesthetic that’s so singular and unique. It’s whimsy without costumery, small flourishes of peacockery without the silliness. It’s expressive and bold but in a very Northern European way. It’s nuanced and thoughtful, and I think a certain type of man, usually someone creative, responds to that.

“The clothes were a joyous celebration of what makes Dries Van Noten’s fashion unique. The very classic, sweeping coats were sublime. And for that Dries stardust, I loved the lustrous gold jackets and trousers... Where else are you going to get a gold suit that doesn’t look like a game show host’s?

“I love the long duster coat with the abstract print layered underneath; it’s a vivid, bold piece, but the layered effect makes it more nuanced and less obvious. I’d wear with a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and some Dries Van Noten velvet slippers circa 2018.

“My first Dries Van Noten purchase is the one with the best anecdote attached to it. I won the Vogue talent contest many moons ago, and with some of the money I bought a pair of metallic gold Dries Van Noten brogues. Later, desperately trying to land my first job in fashion, I had an interview with the then-editor of Harper’s Bazaar. Of course, I wore the gold shoes. She reasoned that if I had the gumption to show up to a job interview in those, I would be great at the social side of the magazine, so they helped me get my first job in a way. Years later, I wore a silver sequined Dries shirt and shorts to his final collection, so the love for lustrous metallics came full circle.

“I’d love to see a development of the Dries Van Noten universe with some twists and turns to keep us excited and engaged for a new era of the brand.”