DRIES VAN NOTEN SS26: JUST A PERFECT DAY, WITH A PERFECTLY IMPERFECT WARDROBE

Camz
Sep 4
2 min read

A SUMMER DAY, A LATE NIGHT, AND A WARDROBE IN FLUX

Dries Van Noten’s SS26 menswear collection arrives like the blur between a long night and an early morning, equal parts dreamy stroll on the beach and afterparty dishevelment. Newly under the creative eye of Julian Klausner, the show became a dialogue between tailoring and spontaneity, between tradition and the joyful mess of imperfection.

The press notes speak of Lou Reed humming “Just a Perfect Day,” and indeed, the collection unfolds like that: effortless, offbeat, and tinged with poetic nonchalance.

THE NEW SILHOUETTE: BETWEEN FORMAL AND CASUAL

The collection plays with definitions. What is formal, what is casual, and how do these categories feel when melted into one another? Double-breasted jackets share space with embroidered shirts left deliciously unbuttoned, sleeves rolled as if the wearer is permanently stepping out of a party.

The tailoring comes close to the body, subtly merging masculine and feminine codes, while still embracing freedom. There is a sense of tailoring being less about rigidity and more about movement. Tuxedo jackets pair cheekily with three-quarter-length trousers, which is exactly the kind of sartorial provocation that makes sense in Dries’ universe.

TEXTURES THAT SEDUCE, DETAILS THAT MISBEHAVE

Coats in double duchesse satin, shaped like bells with darted sleeves, break the rules of classic men’s outerwear with a whisper of couture finish.

Elsewhere, box-pleated backs play with volume, contrasting against ribbed knit cycle shorts that seem ready for both a runway stride and a late-night bike ride through Paris. Evening proposals borrow from womenswear: tops with boat necklines, wrapped vests over crisp white shirts, and jersey tops carefully cinched at the waist. The embroidery is unapologetically lavish, a reminder that ornamentation can be as powerful as construction.

Of course, mismatched shoelaces and necklaces of shells sneak into the narrative, as if Klausner and Van Noten are daring us to remember that elegance often thrives in the unplanned. It is fashion as memory, as personal collage.

THE NIGHT BLANCHE IN VIVID COLOUR

While much of the collection embraces monochrome tailoring, there is also a playful injection of colour and texture. The imagery of a nuit blanche, sleepless and neon-tinted, is present in vivid contrasts: the softness of sand-inspired tones, the glimmer of embroidery catching the light, the insouciance of bare skin under sharply cut jackets.

Youthfulness is everywhere, not in immaturity but in the refusal to be boxed in. Piling on, peeling off, recombining : the collection revels in the pleasure of dressing as an act of continual reinvention.

A PERFECTLY IMPERFECT CONCLUSION

Dries Van Noten SS26, through the eyes of Julian Klausner, feels like an ode to imperfection, to spontaneity, to the joy of mixing formality with carelessness. It is a wardrobe where a tuxedo jacket finds its perfect partner in shorts, where embroidery meets undone shirting, and where the memory of last night still clings to the morning air.

It is, as Lou Reed sang, just a perfect day. Which, in fashion terms, means one that refuses to be too polished. Because perfection, after all, is terribly boring.