Good things come to those who wait. After nearly 40 years, the famously deliberate and detail-oriented designer Dries Van Noten has opened his eponymous brand's first New York flagship. The Belgian designer, who took his last bow as the brand's creative director last summer, continues to steer its slowly expanding retail operation. Last month, the brand opened a boutique in London; on April 18, it opened the doors to its New York jewel box on Mercer Street.
Long celebrated for his painterly approach to silhouette, Van Noten brings the same eye for composition to the space itself. Ready-to-wear, accessories, and the brand’s beauty line unfold across two floors, surrounded by sculptural furniture and art ranging from a paper napkin by British contemporary art star Tracey Emin to a 17th century English portrait. The store's layout—narrow and elongated, with soaring seven-meter ceilings—reads like an installation in motion. Clean-lined walls frame a gold-leaf structure at the back of the store, guiding the gaze like a stage set.
Several standout works by Belgian designer Ben Storms—including gilded and mirrored stainless steel room dividers and a Breccia Viola marble coffee table—shape the store’s refined interior. “There is this shared esteem for materiality and skilled craftsmanship,” Storms told CULTURED of his kinship with Van Noten’s work. “A meeting of values where dedication and integrity are paramount... Traditional and topical, ornamental and yet restrained.”
Grounded and architectural, Storm's pieces are in dialogue with not only the surrounding space but also the restless energy of Manhattan itself—a city he describes as “restless, somewhat raw and constantly transforming.”
Meanwhile, Italian glass artist Simone Crestani’s SOS Save Our Sky installation offers a moment of breath. Delicate and ephemeral, it features silica aerogel—a space-age material once used by NASA to collect stardust. The artist sees a parallel between the medium and Manhattan itself. “It’s composed of practically nothing, and yet it holds the universe,” he said. “I find the energy of the city equally attractive and fleeting.”
Van Noten described his process for designing the store as both intentional and intuitive. “Some pieces spoke to us because of the materials, others because of their volumes,” he explained. “Ben Storms’s work has a strong presence but it’s very still, very grounded. That felt right for New York. Then a designer like Simone Crestani brings this beautiful delicacy—it’s all about creating a quiet dialogue.”
The Mercer Street store extends Van Noten’s decades-long project of collapsing the boundaries between fashion and art, surface and substance. Every detail reinforces his belief that clothing is just one thread in a larger aesthetic tapestry. In a city built on speed and spectacle, Van Noten has carved out space to slow down and look around.
