The Business of Fashion Podcast (Spotify landing)
Inside Dries Van Noten’s Venice Manifesto
Why It Matters
Van Noten’s shift illustrates how established designers can reinvent their purpose beyond seasonal collections, using cultural stewardship to address broader societal anxieties. For fashion professionals and creatives, the episode offers a roadmap for leveraging heritage spaces to foster sustainable craftsmanship and provoke meaningful dialogue about beauty in turbulent times.
Key Takeaways
- •Dries Van Noten launched Venice foundation after leaving fashion.
- •He frames beauty creation as protest against ugly times.
- •Palazzo Pisani Moretta serves as living museum for craftsmanship.
- •Exhibition blends historic fashion with contemporary, political voices.
- •Emphasis on handmade over AI underscores sustainable creative values.
Pulse Analysis
In the spring of 2024, Belgian designer Dries Van Noten stepped away from his eponymous label to create a cultural foundation in Venice’s historic Palazzo Pisani Moretta. The move marks a deliberate shift from the relentless calendar of runway shows to a slower, place‑based rhythm where art, history, and community intersect. By repurposing a 1730s palazzo, Van Noten positions himself as a custodian of craftsmanship, preserving centuries‑old techniques while inviting contemporary creators to dialogue within its ornate walls. This transition reflects a broader industry trend of designers seeking lasting impact beyond seasonal collections.
The inaugural exhibition, titled “The Only True Protest Is Beauty,” frames aesthetic creation as an active response to today’s “ugly times.” Drawing on a line from 1960s folk singer Phil Ochs, Van Noten argues that producing beauty functions as a form of resistance, offering hope and healing amid global uncertainty. The show juxtaposes archival pieces from Comme des Garçons and Christian Lacroix with works by emerging voices such as West Bank designer Ayam Hassan, highlighting fashion’s capacity to engage political narratives. The palazzo’s preserved frescoes, tiepolo ceiling, and human‑scale spaces amplify the dialogue between past craftsmanship and present social concerns.
For the business side of fashion, Van Noten’s Venice project underscores the growing relevance of sustainable, handmade production over digital shortcuts like AI‑generated design. By foregrounding tactile skill and local artisans, the foundation models a profitable yet responsible pathway that aligns brand heritage with contemporary values. Executives can view this as a blueprint for diversifying brand portfolios: investing in cultural institutions, leveraging historic assets, and positioning beauty itself as a strategic brand statement that resonates with consumers seeking authenticity and purpose. The initiative signals that fashion’s future may lie less in fleeting trends and more in enduring cultural stewardship.
Episode Description
For four decades, Dries Van Noten defined a singular path in global fashion with a universe rooted in intellectual rigour, exquisite craftsmanship and independence. When he stepped back from his eponymous brand last year, it wasn't a retreat into a quiet retirement. Instead, Van Noten has embarked on a profound transition—moving from the relentless, dictated rhythm of fashion to a new life as a custodian of culture in Venice.
Van Noten has established a new foundation at the Palazzo Pisani Moretta, a space dedicated to the beauty of craftsmanship and the belief that in a world marked by global uncertainty, the act of making something beautiful is the ultimate form of protest.
“I think everybody knows that it’s ugly times,” says Van Noten. “When we say ‘protest,’ you protest against something—so I think it’s quite clear when we say ‘the only true protest is beauty’ that people know what we mean.”
In this special episode of The BoF Podcast, our editor-at-large Tim Blanks speaks to Dries Van Noten about this remarkable transition to becoming a custodian of beauty.
Key Insights:
The Post-Runway Pivot: Reclaiming the Creative Rhythm: Van Noten discusses the liberation of moving away from the "dictated rhythm" of the global fashion calendar. “We didn't retire to have an easy life and just relax," Van Noten states. “Fashion dictates the rhythm. Here, nobody dictates us with what I'm doing now. It’s a different life, a different rhythm, but still busy.” For Van Noten, this transition is not a withdrawal, but a strategic refocusing on projects that prioritise human intuition over commercial pressure.
The Palazzo as a Living Lab: Custodianship of History: His Venice headquarters, the 15th-century Palazzo Pisani Moretta, serves as a living laboratory where the focus shifts from product to process. Van Noten views his role not as an owner, but as a temporary guardian of the space's cultural and physical history. “I really feel that we are custodians now of something which is so special... It’s a palazzo built to impress, but there is also a very strong human factor in it.” he notes.
Beauty as Engagement: The Radical Act of Aesthetics: In a world marked by macro-uncertainty and conflict, Van Noten posits that creating beauty is a provocative, active form of protest rather than a passive escape. He argues that aesthetics can be a healing, grounding force in an increasingly "ugly" global landscape. “In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty,” says Van Noten. “For me, it's impossible just to sit there and to complain… I always look to the future, and I think [for] the future you have to protest, you have to have hope. Protest for me also gives hope.”
Rejecting fashion hierarchies: A core pillar of the new foundation is the rejection of traditional fashion hierarchies. Dries places the work of avant-garde masters like Rei Kawakubo on the same plane as local artisans and emerging designers from conflict zones, centering the "soul" of the object over its brand equity. ‘I meet such different people... Last week I was still standing here with a person in Venice who makes books, a bookbinder... I think he's 87. I had tears in my eyes. He was so happy and so proud to show me the book covers that he made.’ Van Noten expresses
Additional Resources:
The BoF 500: Dries Van Noten | BoF
Dries Van Noten and Julian Klausner: How to Make a Designer Transition Work |BoF
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Comments
Want to join the conversation?
Loading comments...