An incredible archive or Dries Van Noten invitations, lookbooks and ephemera stretching from the beginning in 1992 until 2006. Various sizes from regular book size (8vo) to folio for S/S 1998, different paper stocks and bindings, spot inks, gilting, special envelopes, invitations in acrylic, felt and more. Most of the work was done by the team themselves but there's a lot of work by Ronald Stoopz and the rest of the Antwerp crack team. Dries Van Noten has managed to sit both outside and right at the centre of the fashion system at the same time, keeping full independance, never advertising and not producing pre collections of diffusion lines. His refusal to participate in the fashion system has led not only to cult status, but has also allowed him, and his designers complete freedom- which means their work quite distinct. The clothes are subtle, perfectly detailed and considered, taking in a dizzying array of influences from Orientalism to New Wave Cinema and Modernist Painting all shot through with a unique sensibility. This archive of material very much distill's the influences and ethos of the designer and his house from the very early days to the mid 2000's.
