Post-Retirement, Dries Van Noten Is Still Working on Fragrance & Beauty (EXCLUSIVE)
When Dries Van Noten retired from his eponymous brand in March, the fashion world collectively mourned — who could possibly succeed the legendary Belgian designer, known for his inventive use of color and pattern?
While a successor has yet to be announced, a margin of comfort is felt in the fact that Van Noten will maintain oversight on his brand's overall direction. Now, Van Noten confirms in an exclusive interview with Highsnobiety that he will also continue advising on Dries Van Noten's beauty collection, which launched in 2022.
"I like it a lot," Van Noten says of his work on the label's fragrance line, which, on Wednesday, introduced four new eaux de parfums. "For me, this is the essence of what a fashion company is. You create a smell, you create a dream."
The new fragrances, available online, continue Van Noten's interrogation of "impossible combinations," notes and ingredients that, at first glance, you'd think would clash.
The scent that best encapsulates this concept is Vanilla Camouflage, a fragrance one might expect to be creamy and sweet, judging from its name.
Instead, Van Noten and perfumer Alexandra Monet juxtaposed Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla against a backdrop of galbanum, a resin that has an intensely green, forest-like smell — some even describe it as bitter, the polar opposite of vanilla.
"I really wanted to challenge the noses... I wanted to push them even further," Van Noten says, adding that the "surprise factor" in each new fragrance is key to the collection.
The four fragrances — the aforementioned Vanilla Camouflage, as well as Bitter Splash (pomelo and leather), Chamomile Satin (chamomile and vanilla), and Crazy Basil (basil and cedar) — are also layerable.
Van Noten himself is partial to three combinations: Bitter Splash and Mystic Moss, Bitter Splash and Crazy Basil, and Crazy Basil and Jardin de l'Orangerie, a perfume from his previous collection.
"I love to play with those things and experiment," he says. "To me, there are no rules."
