Dries Van Noten Spring / Summer 2017

PARIS — Existence is transitory, impermanence is the rule. As water gathered on the catwalk Wednesday afternoon at the Dries Van Noten Spring / Summer 2017 runway show after having melted from floral bouquets suspended in blocks of ice situated on either sides of the model path it was difficult not to contemplate such inescapably heavy subjects. The planet is heating up, global ice is melting, sea levels are rising, the future for the species is grim. Funereal as this outlook is, Dries was not in mourning, but in fact welcoming the spring thaw and the flowering that follows. Holding the proverbial bouquets this season were 13 models from across the Next network including Leila Zandonai (C), who closed the show, as well as Odette Pavlova, Maria Clara, Lia Pavlova, Liza Ostanina, Julie Hoomans, Wangy, Marjan Jonkman, Julie Hoomans, Klementyna Dmowska, Selena Forrest, Estella Brons, and Ava Dahlem. As an original member of the Antwerp Six, Dries has an uncanny ability to create lasting moments out of the otherwise temporary. This was much was true Wednesday afternoon and also of the wet footprints that followed show goers back into the world. Credits include: Client, Dries Van Noten; Collection, Women’s Ready-To-Wear Spring / Summer 2017; Clothing design, Dries Van Noten; Styling, Nancy Rohde; Hair, Sam McKnight; Makeup, Peter Philips; Production, Villa Eugénie; Casting, Piergiorgio Del Moro, Samuel Ellis.