First Look at Kris Van Assche’s Signature Collection, Version 2.0

Kris Van Assche’s new signature collection, the first since he paused the label in 2015, was hung sparsely on three rolling racks in his Paris apartment, a distillation and an update of his inimitable blend of the elegant and ever-so-slyly streetwise.

Expertly merchandised, you could imagine his clothes displayed just like that in a department store or specialty boutique, although Van Assche opted for direct-to-consumer distribution only. His online store is set to go live Thursday.

Fans of the Belgian designer — one of the first to finish off men’s suits with sneakers, always sparking his youthful tailoring with loads of athletic and workwear influences — might recognize similar styles from the early days of his label, launched in 2005. These include a roomy gray blazer with a necktie piping the lapels, a shirt with permanently pushed-up sleeves, and loose dress pants with cargo pockets, updated for today.

“I think it still works,” he said during an exclusive preview, hoisting up the pants and a matching oversize shirt, both done in a woolen Prince of Wales fabric.

But the biggest surprise is the sequin pencil skirts, the open-back dresses and the puff-sleeve sweatshirts, which he styles freely with more masculine garments.

Van Assche has dedicated most of his career to menswear, famously at Dior Homme, which he headed for 11 years, followed by three years designing Berluti.

But he graduated in 1998 from Antwerp’s famous Royal Academy of Fine Arts with a womenswear degree, and has been eager to express himself in this domain, having only dabbled with women’s fashions at his signature brand between 2008 and 2010.

His aim was to “make feminine womenswear; not just women wearing a men’s suit, because that’s the obvious direction for me. So I wanted very feminine dresses, I wanted very feminine skirts, but then the reality of the situation is that I also love a woman in a well-tailored jacket. So that’s how things got constructed together. And I love a good contrast.”

Van Assche added a sensual touch to skirts by letting the silky, patterned lining peek out from hems, or occasionally a stretch of lace-edged slip.

His litmus test for the entire collection: If a couple entered a restaurant wearing the label, would he turn his head to drink in their outfits?

“I like beauty,” he said unapologetically, referring to the black tulip punctuating his label, and the dollops of romance he inserts, including the phrase found on hanger loops, inside jackets and on shirt plackets: “Write more love letters.”

“There is always one foot in what I like to call old-world beauty. It’s even the case when I do vases,” he said, referring to his ongoing design project with Belgian homewares firm Sirax. “There’s always this idea that people used to make more of an effort to look good, to dress up, to set beautiful tables. There was the pleasure of making an effort, which has gotten a little bit lost.”

For his latest fashion comeback, Van Assche returned to his historic Belgian production partner Gysemans BVBA, though his new collection is realized with only deadstock fabrics, meaning smaller quantities and a sense of rarity.

He said he had no problem finding delicious materials from dealers in Belgium and Paris, including Nona Source. Highlights include striped cotton shirting fabrics, beefy sweatshirt fleece and a luscious herringbone for a handsome winter coat.

“The advantage of it is that I can only buy exactly the amount that I need. I’m not creating deadstock myself, which of course for my structure is a very positive situation. Also I have immediate access to the fabrics,” he noted.

Prices are at the lower spectrum of designer collections, with shirts retailing from about 400–450 euros and jackets from 1,000 to 1,200 euros.

His editorial shoot of the collection, styled by his partner Mauricio Nardi, demonstrates the versatility of a striped shirt to transform soigné dresses into daytime looks, and how a reversible bomber jacket can take on a couture allure one minute; a streetwise one the next.

Van Assche cast mature models, wishing to break away from the norm of youth as the preferred image “to make people dream.

“Of course clothes look good on them. But when you look at them and you’re no longer 18 yourself, it’s something that is by definition in the past,” he said. “I preferred the idea of more mature models where actually I can project myself in the future and say, ‘Oh my god, that looks actually really cool on them.’ That gives me confidence for the future.”

He said the casting also telegraphs that his clothes “don’t have an age.”

They certainly exude polish, confidence and the Belgian penchant for well-made garments. “I’ve been extremely spoiled working with Dior and Berluti, and my eye has gotten used to good quality,” Van Assche allowed.

Meanwhile, his time away from the front lines of designer fashion has given him a fresh perspective, and a will to avoid “the weight of the structure, of the structure, the weight of the calendar, the weight of the (fashion) system, which I know too well. I didn’t want to have that immediately on my shoulders.”

Hence his reactivated ready-to-wear line will be sold only on his relaunched website, krisvanassche.com, which will also showcase the design projects that have kept him in the spotlight since parting ways with Berluti in 2021. These include ceramics for Serax and bronze sculptures with Laffanour Galerie Downtown.

He hinted additional projects are in the works, and will be added to the site, though none are in the womenswear arena. “People don’t think of me for womenswear collaborations,” he lamented. “But then when you do menswear for 25 years, you can hardly blame people.”

The designer plans to add additional fashion items, including sneakers in about a month.

“When things are ready, I drop them,” he said. “This is obviously going to be my challenge in coming seasons, and it’s actually already happening: I’ve already received very nice phone calls from very nice stores in Japan, Los Angeles, and even Paris. But it’s the first time in my life that I’m not impatient.”