Dries van Noten Quotes

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Dries van Noten

Profession : Designer

Birth : May 12, 1958

I prefer to see a good exhibit sponsored by a brand than a bad exhibit due to lack of funds.

Dries van Noten

I make clothes people can wear; I don't make art.

Dries van Noten

I have a responsibility to the people who work for me, the manufacturers I work with. There is no point to clothes that don't sell.

Dries van Noten

When I get very stressed, I make jam. I like things that produce a quick result, because fashion has such a long lead time. With jam, you start, and two-three hours later, you have 36 little pots, all full.

Dries van Noten

Clothes is just something you put on to cover yourself... fashion is a way to communicate.

Dries van Noten

One of the big luxuries of being in Antwerp is that I can easily walk in the city. In Paris and New York, I am more recognized.

Dries van Noten

My childhood was very, very, very, very traditional.

Dries van Noten

I love the journeys of research and discovery their development takes me on. I see prints as less 'decorative' than many might, and more fundamental to a garment's core.

Dries van Noten

I'm really hands-on. My team brings in elements, but, every season, it's kind of a personal struggle to find the balance and to see how far I want to push the elements.

Dries van Noten

I have my own office, and I'm there during the evenings and weekends. But during the week, I'm sitting in the middle of my studio, talking with everybody, deciding together every detail, every pallette, every yarn, every colour.

Dries van Noten

I was a kid at the end of the 1960s and in the early 1970s, so a lot of things changed. You had pop music coming up, with David Bowie, you had new television programmes and all these things. I was fascinated.

Dries van Noten

Sometimes, to stimulate your imagination you have to be careful you don't have too much information. You can Google something, and it's in your face, pow! You don't have time to dream any more about it.

Dries van Noten

I'm part of the fashion system, but I don't want to follow all the rules. I don't want to be contrarian - I just want to do my own things, which are most honest and correct to do.

Dries van Noten

To create a collection, you need a narrative - an explanation to tell the team.

Dries van Noten

For me, restrictions are not always negative. Restrictions can push creativity. I like restrictions.

Dries van Noten

For me, it's really like, okay, if you go far with the unexpected materials and unexpected proportions or volumes, then keep the colors quite simple and straightforward for men.

Dries van Noten

I'm a very big fan of winter-flowering shrubs and bulbs. You have the smell, you have the color - it's really like a present from God when something like that is in flower in the middle of the snow.

Dries van Noten

When I have to do something fast, I wear the most unflattering rubber pants over my pants and a big easy sweater. I can get on my knees in the garden in whatever condition, and when I'm done, I can take it off, get in the car, and drive to the office. It's the most practical thing.

Dries van Noten

I'm known for color and prints and embroideries.

Dries van Noten

I like to choose my own way forward. I really do want to create something that I personally like a lot.

Dries van Noten