By Jesse Scott
The Dries Van Noten universe under Julian Klausner continues to come into clearer focus, and with consistently richer and more nuanced narratives, each season. Just a month ago, his men's A/W 26 collection, quite literally layered with the sartorial and musical rhythms of adolescence, inspired me to write on the nostalgia that naturally emerges when we reflect those all-too-short years when we first leave the bubble of family life and forge our own adult identities. This season Klausner expanded on these reflections further, adding a new maturity and sophistication to an impossible-to-duplicate synthesis of retro chic and youthful optimism. The faded florals of the men’s collection returned, but this time with an even more luxurious sensibility that recalled the grandeur of my grandparents’ near century-old upholstery. And they were joined by pixelated near-psychedelic sublimations of a classic 17th century Flemish painting.
Dries Van Noten Women's Fall/Winter 2026 collection finale (Images courtesy of Dries Van Noten)
Of Peaches, Butterflies, and Flowers
Historical artwork and contemporary fashion collections go hand and hand, but it’s rare to see an inspiration so specific or cohesively represented as the one that struck Klausner this season. As he contemplated the ideas of "vulnerability and confidence, cohesion and clarity” endemic to our teenage years, he encountered the still-lifes “Two Peaches and a Butterfly on a Stone Plinth” and “Flowers and Insects” from the 1680s. Classical, yet distinctly quirky, they seemed a perfect fit for the playful elegance that has defined Klausner’s recent work. And they were the anchor of nearly all the prints that danced across an extensive yet diverse collection. Sometimes we saw vivid prints of the peaches painting, for example on a jacket in Look 9 which stands as one of my favorite pieces of the collections. Yet at other times, the same paintings were distorted into technicolor pixels that danced in frenzied retro modernity across a coat in Look 14.
Dries Van Noten Women's Fall/Winter 2026 collection: Looks 9, 14 (Images courtesy of Dries Van Noten)
Knits, as with this season’s men’s collection, dominated. However, it was the golden bejeweled details that stood out as the collection’s defining feature. In an ingenious innovation proving a commitment to practicality as well to glamour, detachable shirt cuffs were adorned with golden metal patterns. Similar patterns appeared on a black topcoat in Look 30, a bedazzled jacket daringly paired with denim, a technicolor peach pattern and a shirt and tie in Look 53, and the regal closing ensembles Looks 61. Meanwhile, Look 25 combined the aforementioned “faded” florals with varsity stripes and ferocious snakeskin boots in one of the most memorable looks of the collection.
Dries Van Noten Women's Fall/Winter 2026: Looks 25, 30, 53, 61 (Images courtesy of Dries Van Noten)
This Dries Van Noten show once again featured a front row of A-list names, including Ayi and Ami Suzuki and Tina Leung. They were treated to Klausner’s best womenswear collection at the Maison yet. Beautifully uniting diverse and perfectly imperfect influences in a way that only he can, from military-style duffel coat in the opening look to a richly detailed shirt and tie in Look 7, Klausner showed us that glamorous accents and soothing silhouettes go hand-in-hand. Reassuring yet somehow rebellious, his Dries universe contains essential components of any closet for the coming autumn season.
Dries Van Noten Women's Fall/Winter 2026 collection: Looks 1, 7 (Images courtesy of Dries Van Noten)