Having teased his tenure with his FW25 menswear lookbook, we are now officially in the swing of things with Julian Klausner’s Dries Van Noten. Taking place at the opulent Palais Garnier with Dries himself watching from the front row, the collection was inspired by Klausner’s childhood memories of rummaging through his family’s costume box. “Throwing things together, feeling the textures and sensations that wearing clothes can ignite,” was the collection’s central thesis, according to the show notes. And you could really feel a sense of that organised chaos throughout. Many outfits consisted of patterned materials draped together to form dresses, whilst other looks were more robust – lots of heavy, tapestry-like materials were barnacle’d in bling. “I imagined women passing through the opera, grabbing fabrics and objects, tying them with a shoelace,” Klausner said.

It was a collection that Dries himself would’ve been happy with. And he did look very happy in the audience. Klausner had all the pressure in the world carrying the torch for one of the industry’s most beloved brands but the house feels like it is in very safe hands.