I Heart Dries

I just returned from having breakfast at The Carlyle (oy, so far uptown!) with my old friend Patrick Scanlon (who worked for Martin Margiela for many many years) and designer Dries Van Noten (who Patrick now works for). I was so excited to meet the wonderful Belgian designer Dries, who first became famous as one of the "Antwerp Six" (a group of radical designers who turned the fashion world on its ears that included Margiela, my old friends Walter Von Bierendonck and his life partner designer Dirk Van Saene, Anne Demeulemeister and Dirk Bikkenbergs) as I have been a huge fan of his work forever.

Van Noten is in town to pick up his CFDA Award tonight and I was so excited to have an iced tea and a chat with him. His last show was one of my favorites he ever did -- see the June/July issue of PAPER) and his summer collection were both filled with wild floral prints all mixed together so beautifully. I adore his work. Turns out that Van Noten's other big passion in life is gardening, so we had a lot to talk about. (I just picked strawberries for breakfast out of my terrace garden this morning!) The best thing VN told me about his latest summer collection was that he made a slew of these amazing prints (he makes all of his own fabrics, and now often even makes some of his own yarns and fibers!) and had his staff drink bottles of wine and blindfold themselves in order to mix prints randomly on the garments. Dries told me it was because he didn't want the choices to be too tasteful or conscious. I love this guy. Check out the results.