While AW26 at Dries Van Noten looked to schools as a source of inspiration, the SS27 season saw Julian Klausner take to the cinema. “An actress, after a day on set, takes the streets back to reality,” the creative director wrote on Instagram, explaining the backstory for his Paris Fashion Week show, which looked to old Hollywood glamour to illustrate the joy of getting dressed. “When do we feel glamorous?
These are things I had on my mind while working on this collection.”

This obviously isn’t the first time that cult films have appeared as a runway reference. To name just a few, there’s Alexander McQueen’s SS96 show where models stumbled onto the catwalk dressed in looks referencing 1983’s The Hunger; Gucci’s AW15 show under Alessandro Michele, which pulled fabric patterns straight from Margot Tenenbaum’s bedroom walls in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums; or Julien Dossena’s ode to Mulholland Drive at Paco Rabanne AW19.

This season at Dries Van Noten, however, Klausner invented a series of fictional film references to feature throughout the collection – printing slinky silk dresses, boxy tops, flowing trench coats, and midi skirts with colourful fake film posters. “Lacquer and Lace” reads one title, while others state “Ruffle Her Feathers” and “Vipère: Watch out! She’s venomous!”. 

Elsewhere, maximalist patterns, subversive silhouettes, and piled-on layers transformed the act of getting dressed into a show in itself. “Playing in front of the mirror, trying things on, getting into a role,” Klausner listed as his references on Instagram. “A red lip, a dazzling brooch, a cinched belt – so little is needed to spark that feeling.”

He continued: “We played with symbols of glamour, universal signs with which anyone is familiar, and played them off, looking for the undone rather than the grand.” Here, leopard print tops were tucked beneath sheer jackets, striped shirting and blazers came covered in crystal embellishments, and sensible skirt sets were cut in bright, martini-print fabric – as if old Hollywood actors had stepped out of the screen into 2026.

Scroll through the gallery above to see more images from the show