“We wanted a more brutal way of doing things,” declared Dries Van Noten, who must be the least brutalist designer on earth. “We just started to chop up garments and throw flower prints on. Everything contrasting!” But you got what he was talking about. Spontaneity, the energy of the chance combination, is a factor that is somehow playing in the background of fashion at the moment—and understandably so, at a time when everything has become so prescriptive and scripted. So why shouldn’t a long denim or cotton drill maxi skirt go with an intensely beaded high-necked Edwardian blouse with leg-of-mutton sleeves? Or a pair of cotton workman’s wide-leg jeans look great with a T-shirt and a rose-strewn corseted jacket on top? Dries Van Noten proved they do, very much so.
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