‘There is more work to be done in the garden’: Dries Van Noten on deciding to grow his burgeoning beauty line

For Dries Van Noten, 2024 has been a year to remember.

In March, the Belgian designer announced his imminent retirement from fashion. Having risen to prominence during the 1980s as part of the Antwerp Six (a collective of graduates from the city’s Royal Academy, including Walter Van Beirendonck and Ann Demeulemeester), almost four decades on, he took his final bow on a runway, shimmering with silver leaf, during June’s S/S 2025 menswear shows in Paris. ‘I want to shift my focus to all the things I never had time for,’ he said at the time. ‘I’m sad, but at the same time, happy.’

Dries Van Noten: why the designer is growing his beauty line

Famously, one of Van Noten’s greatest pleasures is his 55-acre garden, in the grounds of the Palladian-style home he shares with his partner in Lier, near Antwerp. The garden – and the botanical world in particular – has provided him with boundless inspiration for his signature use of colour, print and texture. So when he launched Dries Van Noten Beauty in 2021 with a set of lipsticks and fragrances harnessing all nature has to offer, it felt like an organic move.

Perhaps, the beauty line’s intrinsic connection with the plants and flowers growing in his Van Noten’s garden has informed his decision to continue in an advisory role for this arm of the business, after stepping back from his position as the brand’s creative director and CEO. ‘At the beginning, I saw my garden as kind of an escape,’ he says. ‘But then I started to realise that escape is something that’s part of me. The garden balances me as a human being. In fashion, you try to control everything. But in the garden, you have to obey nature. It helps me to stay humble.’

Dries Van Noten Beauty is also built around the idea of ‘impossible combinations’ (a theme celebrated by Wallpaper* in the December 2023 issue) whether it’s the luscious reds and pinks of the lipstick collection punctuated with shades of deep violet and beige-toned nude, or the blend of notes found in its scents. Four of the most recent compositions include Bitter Splash, which marries tart grapefruit with powdery iris and vetiver; Vanille Camouflage, where resinous galbanum balances out the creamy sweetness of bourbon pods; Camomile Satin, containing soothing camomile and vanilla; and Crazy Basil – with notes of cedarwood – which Van Noten describes as ‘putting your nose in a pot of basil’.

When asked to choose a favourite flower from his garden, he says: ‘In summer, it’s the purple cyclamen, which flowers under the beech trees. I think it’s magical because it’s the last sign of summer. In December, I love the witch hazels, which are fantastic because they’re the tiniest flowers with the most delicate perfume. Next, you have the hellebores, before the first daffodils in early spring. Then in May, the peonies and roses. For me, it’s about the entire cycle of the seasons.’

The nurture of flowers and plants requires patience. ‘My life changed quite a lot this year,’ he says. ‘It’s an exciting time. We had some storms, with big trees falling over, so there is more work to do in the garden and some thinking to be done.’ And it would seem that Van Noten is approaching this new chapter in his life almost as he does his garden. ‘The quality has to be there, from the packaging to sustainability,’ he says. ‘But the good thing is we have time.’

A version of this article appears in the December 2024 issue of Wallpaper* , available in print on international newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

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