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" My office looks very empty compared with my house. The house is completely crammed full with things that Patrick and I love. It's very eclectic. There are things that have no value but which we like. We have a lot of Belgian painters; we have international painters. We have nice things; we have ugly things. I don't want that things are predictable. "

Dries van Noten

Love

Value

" I have nothing against glamorous dressing. "

" For me, it's really like, okay, if you go far with the unexpected materials and unexpected proportions or volumes, then keep the colors quite simple and straightforward for men. "

Dries van Noten

Colors

You

" When I have to do something fast, I wear the most unflattering rubber pants over my pants and a big easy sweater. I can get on my knees in the garden in whatever condition, and when I'm done, I can take it off, get in the car, and drive to the office. It's the most practical thing. "

" For me, a show is an event - something we work toward that focuses an idea. "

Dries van Noten

Something

Work

" I prefer a scruffy atmosphere. "

Dries van Noten

Prefer

Atmosphere

" I love the journeys of research and discovery their development takes me on. I see prints as less 'decorative' than many might, and more fundamental to a garment's core. "

Dries van Noten

Research

Love

" My childhood was very, very, very, very traditional. "

" Various different people have inspired me throughout my career. From Francis Bacon to Vassareli, Coco Chanel to Christian Dior, Cecil Beaton, musicians, architects... the list is endless. "

" Picasso took scraps of wallpaper, and instead of using paint and a brush, he used all the existing elements which he made his artwork with. "

" When we were studying at the Royal Antwerp Academy, we were taught to seek inspiration from everyone, everything and everywhere. My parents and grandparents were also a great inspiration for me a very young age. "

Dries van Noten

Parents

Studying

" I prefer ugly things. I prefer things which are surprising. "

" Clothes is just something you put on to cover yourself... fashion is a way to communicate. "

" In the design process, there's a need to be culturally comprehensive. "

" I'm a very big fan of winter-flowering shrubs and bulbs. You have the smell, you have the color - it's really like a present from God when something like that is in flower in the middle of the snow. "

" Change is not always bad. Change can be good. "

" For breakfast, I usually have a slice of bread with some homemade jam made from fruit from the garden; the type of jam depends on what particular fruit is being harvested. I learned how to make it from my mother. "

" I think in the same way when I'm cooking, when I'm gardening, when I'm choosing fabrics. It's a way of living. "

" I'm known for color and prints and embroideries. "

" Many a fashion designer's career was founded using packs upon packs of Polaroids, and though we love them, we forget that the image quality was often circumspect. "

" I started the company in 1986, but we didn't have the money to do a show until '92. "

" I try to be as independent as possible. "

" The garden is my second profession. It's 22 hectares, which is a big garden. I really need it, going from the flower garden, the shrubs and the trees, the vegetable garden, all these things. "

" Coincidence is important, the convergence of different ideas. "

" My morning routine varies by how much time I have. In the winter, I like to take baths, but in the summer, I prefer a good shower with some soap and then maybe some moisturizer afterward. I use D.R. Harris and Geo. F. Trumper products, which we also stock at our shops in Paris and Antwerp. "

" To create a collection, you need a narrative - an explanation to tell the team. "

" One of the big luxuries of being in Antwerp is that I can easily walk in the city. In Paris and New York, I am more recognized. "

" My partner, Patrick, and I live in an old house in Belgium that was built in 1840 and is out in the countryside between Antwerp and Brussels. "

" I have my own office, and I'm there during the evenings and weekends. But during the week, I'm sitting in the middle of my studio, talking with everybody, deciding together every detail, every pallette, every yarn, every colour. "

" I'm part of the fashion system, but I don't want to follow all the rules. I don't want to be contrarian - I just want to do my own things, which are most honest and correct to do. "