Coming Into his Own
Review of Dries Van Noten Fall 2026 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
Fall 2026 was a return to the classroom, both literally and metaphorically, for Julian Klausner. Staged inside the storied halls of Lycée Carnot in the 17th arrondissement, the creative director continued his meditation on coming of age from his menswear show in January.
The venue was a setting that transported guests back to that universal feeling of being a “work in progress” a phrase that often describes teenage years but certainly does not apply to Klausner’s assured grip on the house’s codes. Rather than settling for nostalgia, Klausner deconstructed the strictures of school dress and elevated them into an opulent vocabulary for adulthood. Uniform staples were twisted, elongated, embroidered, and layered with the eclecticism that has long defined the Dries Van Noten brand.
In revisiting those transitional years, where identity is formed through clothing, the designer was able to tap into something universal yet timeless, the lifelong desire to experiment with our identity through the way we dress.
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Eclectic Experimentation, Defying Dress Codes, Adolescence in Adulthood
School was still in session at Dries Van Noten, as Julian Klausner continued his exploration of the coming of age concept. Taking place in the Lycée Carnot secondary school in the 17th arrondissment (that boasts of influential former alumni who have been instrumental in the arts including poet Louis Aragon and electronic music pioneers Daft Punk) its main hall was the setting for fall 2026. A hall that, according to the creative director, propelled himself and his team back to that time of mixed emotions and everyday angst that was being a teenager.
Describing that time in every adults life as feeling like a ‘work in progress’, Klausner’s tenure at Dries Van Noten is proving to be anything but, as he has fully grasped the specific nuances and idioms that make up the visual narrative of the house. That effortlessly distinguish it as a brand of lived experiences garnered from those who wear and love the house.
The lived experience of today’s show was the universal one of vulnerability and confidence, confusion and clarity as recounted in todays notes. And this feeling formed the basis for a reworking of those clothing items most associated with our school days. Including the school uniform girls reworked by rolling up sleeves and hems to test the boundaries of set dress codes.
The well-worn knitted sweater, the padded jacket, and the go-to pair of denim jeans worn at the weekend with friends were spun into adult-sized editions for next season. The elongated duffles and layered culottes from his menswear show joined plaid puffers and sporty-hybrid bomber jackets that would have made any teen the envy of their peer group. The designer gave the tipped blazer and shirt an update with disrupted draping and metallic embroidered crests, and today’s crisp white button-downs with decorative panels and statement cuffs would have proudly flouted the rules.
Denim felt like a wholly appropriate and welcome addition to the collection seeing as a girls first pair of jeans are a right-of-passage to establish her style credentials. Here mid-wash denim became its own talking point in slouchy jeans, an open-back maxi dress and maxi skirt that were set among more embellished outerwear pieces and a sporty jacket with a contrast ribbed collar.
A clever play on the pixellated print was inspired by a couple of Flemish still-life paintings from the 1680s titled “Two Peaches and a Butterfly on a Stone Plinth” and “Flowers and Insects.” The expanded prints were made almost discernible from their original, yet they were symbolic, as the notes clarified ‘Just like a pixelated picture, the more one gets far from that time of endless questioning, the clearer it becomes’.
THE WRAP UP
Capturing that most fragile and fleeting moment of transition, from adolescence to adulthood, Klausner has found a universal theme to expand on for both his men’s and women’s shows that feel instinctively relevant to today. As late Millennials who grew up during the most pivotal years for the brand are professing to feeling – and acting – more like teens than the responsible grown-ups they are. And with this collection the designer is allowing them to relive that time, but now with a much-improved version of the familiar clothing items that either brought a sense of comfort and home or admiration from peers. Standard-issue shirts are patchworked with embroidery, opulent jacquards elevate outerwear, and multi-textured knitwear feels extra-special.
The layering on of garments, as representative of memories and key moments in time, is the designers way of exploring how we form our identity. By borrowing, collecting, clashing, and matching according to his notes for today’s show. And as the words by Gala Dragot, which formed the shows soundtrack, recounted “I hope I stay curious forever” is a mantra that Klausner is applying to underscore these confident outings that have marked the early stages of his tenure.
