Dries Van Noten S/S 2015

This season we took a trip on Dries Van Noten's magic carpet catwalk to what were certainly greener pastures. The Belgian designer's enchanted spring setting saw Bohemian nymphs walking a shag pile, moss-hued rug that was made by Buenos Aires-based artist Alexandra Kehayoglou and stretched for more than one hundred metres down the centre of his Grand Palais venue. Instilling the same festival spirit in the clothes, Van Noten gave us a greatest hits compilation - not surprising given his Musée des Arts Decoratifs retrospective earlier this year - that was spun with an exotic twist. Silken pyjama pants, tailored Bermudas, zip-up patterned bombers, sarong skirts and his signature patchwork mélange of jacquard fabrics were all well accounted for. Stripes also made a grand return - although blocked in thick Pantone hues - along with Balinese block prints that were encrusted for evening. What felt freshest were his metallic shot batik prints, the plethora of flowing, asymmetrically tied sundresses, and the addition of denim - which also shimmered under the set's lights. Newer still were Van Noten's bumper wedges (bumper, because they reminded us of Marc Newson's 'Bumper Bed'), which give his girls the illusion of floating on white cushions, and yet somehow effectively grounded the clothes' Arts and Crafts exuberance. The show's finale offered a crowning stroke of genius as his models sat down to create a psychedelic mise-en-scène - he had after all been inspired by a mix of A Midsummer Night's Dream and British music festival Glastonbury. Indeed if Van Noten was one to do advertising campaigns he could have killed two birds with one stone here, but as he does not, a stream of Instagram imagery was waged on his behalf by his legions of fans that could not help getting down on their knees to partake in the festival scene.