DvN – The Great Inspirator

Not too many living designers receive the honor of a retrospective exhibition in the heart of the world’s fashion capital, at Musée des Arts Décoratifs. The exhibition INSPIRATIONS, curated by Pamela Golbin with the collaboration of Dries Van Noten opened yesterday in Paris, celebrating the Belgium designer 25 years of creative vision and passion for culture, art and above all – textile.

The process of working on the exhibition took more than 2 years, in which van Noten was given full access to the museum’s rich archive. The first result appeared already in June 2013 where Van Noten presented a men’s collection in which he replicated and applied 19th Century prints selected from the museum’s archive. (See above).

The exhibition displays 180 pieces of Dries Van Noten clothing alongside the works that inspired them. These include Christian Dior, Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent pieces from the museum’s archives; photography from Dries Van Noten’s personal collection, and both historical and contemporary art pieces by Bronzino, Yves Klein, Francis Bacon, Elizabeth Peyton, Damien Hirst and many others.

Welcome to Dries van Noten’s world. There are no official images from the exhibition yet (you can see snap shot from Diane Pernet blog, who visited the opening last night), but the following images that appear on the show, were discussed in the dialogue between exhibition curator and Van Noten.

Dries Van Noten, défilé homme Printemps_Été 2014

There are no official images from the exhibition yet (you can see snap shot from Diane Pernet instagram who visited the opening last night) but the following images and inspirations were discussed in the published dialogue between exhibition curator Pamela Golbin and Dries Van Noten.

Bronzino, Portrait d’un sculpteur, XVIe siècle

Gerhard Richter, Mohn, huile sur toile, 1986

Francis Bacon, Portrait de Michel Leiris, circa 1976

Jacques-Émile Blanche, Portrait de Marcel Proust, 1892

Pré-défilé 1986-1987

Yves Saint Laurent ensemble du soir automne-hiver 1979-1980

Dries van Noten -Patrick-Robijn-DivScanI

Kenzo, complet d’homme et chemise assortie printemps-été 1986

Dries van Noten Collection homme Automne/Hiver 2011-2012

And if you (like The Garçonnière) didn’t have enough you can watch Dries van Noten speaks on the process, dilemmas and excitement of making this exhibition. DON’T MISS THE DRIES!

* Update *

Here are some new pictures from the exhibition, published in Suzy Menkes’ article Dries Van Noten: Inspired Creativity:

Dries Van Noten – Inspirations
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
March 1^st-August 31^st 2014