Ah, what a joy it is to wake up on the day of a Dries Van Noten show. Coincidentally, it was precisely joy that inspired the Spring/Summer 2026 offering of the house. For his second womenswear collection, Julian Klausner finds solace in the concept of surfing. Emphasis on the concept – backstage, the designer admits to not practising the sport himself, but to being fascinated by the tranquillity it must bring. Perhaps it’s this distance that allows him to design based on an elusive feeling, a calm happiness that is hard to achieve in today’s climate. Like so many designers this season, Klausner is designing in response to the world.
The collection is permeated with Dries Van Noten staples – loud prints, heavy embroideries, interesting textures, vivid colours. It makes sense that the Belgian designer finds solace in the brand’s signatures. Before taking over the creative reins, Klausner worked for over a decade under his predecessor. Still, Klausner isn’t merely replicating Van Noten’s work; he’s expanding it.
To the sound of crashing waves, the collection opened with a romanticism that is Julian’s own. Ruffles on grey jersey sweats flounce casually. Ruched turtlenecks project tulle streams away from the body. Heavily crystalised – but light – casual jackets are wonderful oxymorons. Eventually, the Dries language becomes indistinguishable from Klausner’s. Long printed coats are delightful, with their lapel folded inwards, revealing a tinge of white. As you’d expect, they manifest in a variety of prints. At first, relatively controlled in baroque yellow flowers, but eventually they grow in double prints – a moiré texture is overlaid on a dead-nature colored angular pattern.
Print has always been a Dries’ language, but with Klausner, it’s reinvigorated. Translucent dresses and capes are optical illusions, placing opposite-colored polka dots in proximity, tricking the eye.
The show’s inspiration rears its head in the colour palette. Bright yellow and vivid blues totalize the collection midway through in striped bodysuits and embroidered robes. Later, classic Dries prints were maximised, engorged till they took another shape entirely. A nipped-in waist blouse and pencil skirt combo is to die for. Klausner makes more than good collections; he creates appetising clothes. The offering wraps with sheer caftan dresses, both quietly sheer and incredibly loud.
Words by Pedro Vasconcelos
