The most surprising thing about the new Dries Van Noten exhibition, which runs through July 19 at the MoMu in Antwerp, is twofold: how much Dries Van Noten there is in it, and how much Dries Van Noten there isn’t in it. Mr. Van Noten, 55, has been designing his namesake label since 1986. He has 28 years of collections to draw upon, even more if you count those that preceded the official creation of his line. (Since the show includes a few pieces from his 1981 graduate collection at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, there is good reason to.) And Mr. Van Noten is a careful archivist of his work; he estimates that the pieces he sent from his Antwerp headquarters to this show represent only 20 percent of what he has. So the amount available to be drawn upon is staggering. “First of all, packing the clothes was already quite something,” he said. “Quite often there were people on my creative team who were nearly not born when the clothes were made. To see a guy standing there with a full beard saying, ‘Oh, you know, Dries, I was not born when you made this. …” But what is as notable about the show is how much of it is not by Dries Van Noten. There are garments by fellow designers who have influenced him, including Schiaparelli and Dior, Kansai Yamamoto and Thierry Mugler. There are paintings, sculptures and artworks by Damien Hirst, Michaël Borremans, Yves Klein and Bronzino. The show is not a fashion exhibition, less still a retrospective, and more, in the words of its curator, Pamela Golbin, an exhibition about creativity. Its title is meant to be taken literally: “Dries Van Noten — Inspirations. A must visit we think at Azzurro Due. Get more information here 
Photography by Boy-Kortekaa