Dries Van Noten AW25: Between Heritage and Reinvention

Dries Van Noten’s Fall/Winter 2025 collection, presented during Paris Fashion Week Men’s, marks a moment of transition for the Belgian maison. With its founder stepping away, the brand entrusts the creative direction to Julian Klausner, who now faces the challenge of engaging with a stylistic legacy built on a sophisticated balance between opulence and restraint, tradition and modernity. His debut navigates these well-established references but reveals a creative journey still in progress, suspended between fidelity and renewal. 

Klausner constructs the collection around a powerful literary reference: The Wild Boys (1971) by William S. Burroughs, a work that explores themes of freedom, subversion, and the dissolution of imposed order. A bold choice, seemingly intended to infuse the collection with a sense of rebellion and detachment from convention. However, this inspiration remains largely formal rather than substantive. 

While Burroughs envisions an uncompromising anarchic universe, Klausner’s interpretation maintains a more controlled register. The collection’s aesthetic, though refined, distances itself from the raw urgency of the novel, softening its provocative edge in favor of a more elegant and measured representation. The result is an homage that borrows from the book’s iconography without fully translating its disruptive force. 

Silhouettes oscillate between decadent references and a contemporary reimagining of masculinity: elongated coats, loosely knotted scarves, and generously proportioned suits that flirt with excess without ever fully embracing it. The tailoring is impeccable, as is the carefully curated color palette, dominated by deep shades of black, violet, and white. Yet, the overall visual construction remains within familiar aesthetic boundaries, without a true leap into the unexpected. Elements intended as ruptures—such as layered tights beneath tailored Bermuda shorts or the use of elaborate accessories like floral brooches, leather gloves, and feathered details—feel more like stylistic variations on an established theme rather than statements of a new direction. The collection moves with elegance but stops short of fully realizing the subversive intent suggested by its initial references. If the goal was to preserve the maison’s identity without rejecting its past, Klausner has demonstrated a thoughtful respect for Dries Van Noten’s signature language. 

However, his approach to fashion as a space for experimentation and disruption still feels cautious, more focused on constructing an image than on shaping a new discourse. His debut impresses in terms of craftsmanship, but it leaves an open question: will this define the stylistic identity of Dries Van Noten’s new era, or will Klausner dare to carve out a bolder and more personal vision?