All photos by Sonnyphotos
Dear Shaded Viewers,
The Dries Van Noten Spring/Summer 2026 show at the Palais de Tokyo unfolded like a memory at the edge of the sea—waves lapping gently in the soundtrack, light shimmering above silhouettes that suggested both celebration and tranquility. The invitation alone whispered its poetry: a photograph of rolling water and a scattering of hand-written letters, ink clouded as if washed by rain, calling guests to drift for a moment between worlds—between day and dusk, between anticipation and ease.
On the runway, the collection blended the elegance of a wetsuit with the playful grandeur of summer, echoing the clean lines of surfers in the sunset: small, rounded raglan shoulders and fluid Bermudas rippled alongside regal tailoring enlivened by foaming ruffles and stiff boards. Colors shifted gently from subtle whites to bold saturations, as if the sky were blushing above the water; graphic embroideries and geometric overlays recalled black ink sketches dissolving in sunlight.
The atmosphere vibrated with the sound of waves—Philip Glass’s delicate notes mingling with hints of surf rock—inviting the audience to exhale and float, lost in the gentle rhythm of tide and breeze. Jewels clustered on garments like shells collected from the shore, while slouchy knits and capacious bags invited escape and adventure, every detail reinforcing the designer’s vision of joyful, unfiltered intuitiveness.
Every gesture—like sun on wet linen, a sleeve rolled up and ready for a stroll at dawn—was a celebration of simple things, a dance with nature’s own balancing act: bold but easy, stiff yet floaty, casual yet refined. The show asked guests not merely to witness, but to feel the freedom of summer, to join the procession of color and soft grandeur, and to remember how beautiful it is when rain meets letters and sound meets surf—where emotion becomes air, and air becomes poetry.
Later,
Diane
