Quotes from Dries van Noten

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.

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.

I collect objects I fall in love with more than antiques per se. Value is not a criteria that attracts me to something.

I like to choose my own way forward. I really do want to create something that I personally like a lot.

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.

Change is not always bad. Change can be good.

All my collections are very personal. It's also because I'm so involved in making the collections.

Fashion shows are really my way of communication.

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

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.

I make clothes people can wear; I don't make art.

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.

I look back on shows now that I thought were good, and I don't like them so much anymore. Or criticism I didn't understand or agree with now makes sense.

In the 1980s, I was quite well known for my knitwear, and a lot of inspiration came from carpets, where I found ways to use structures and colors and depth of colors.

I prefer a scruffy atmosphere.

I like it when you have something happening by coincidence. Just something in a book is enough. But I prefer a fragment of an image so you are far more free to bring in elements of your own.

I'm known for color and prints and embroideries.

Enjoy your life, fashion is not that important.

I was a kid at the end of the 1960s and in the early 1970s, so a lot of things changed. You had pop music coming up, with David Bowie, you had new television programmes and all these things. I was fascinated.

I'm a fashion designer, not a shoe designer. I like to design clothes.

I'm really hands-on. My team brings in elements, but, every season, it's kind of a personal struggle to find the balance and to see how far I want to push the elements.

For me, restrictions are not always negative. Restrictions can push creativity. I like restrictions.

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 have nothing against glamorous dressing.