RUNWAY: Dries Van Noten SS14

It's a big day for Dries Van Noten. Not only is the Belgian designer unveiling his Spring/Summer 2014 collection but news broke that his designs will be featured in at the Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris in early 2014. Back to the collection however. Van Noten's claim to fame is his use of prints and in that regard he did not disappoint: a verifiable garden arose out of the collection that featured enough floral prints to cover Versailles. However, these aren't the same florals we've seen this season; Van Noten opted for a dark, dreamy and romantic floral pattern. He mixed them with gilded detailing on coats and shorts to reveal a deeply masculine and mysterious collection with mesh-like layers to create an armor-like defense against the fragility of the floral prints. A wonderfully rich and moving showing from Dries and one that'll surely flank his upcoming exhibit.