‘There’s so much beauty out there. Is there still something we can do?’ Dries Van Noten asked when we spoke to him last year, ahead of his beauty line debut. ‘For me, the answer was yes, we can tell a different story. Because with my fashion collections, I am a storyteller. My clothes make you feel certain associations and connections, because I work with all those contrasts, all those opposites.’
Now, Van Noten is translating that same storytelling ethos into his first-ever beauty store. In fact, part of what drew him to the space on Quai Malaquais was its storied past. Located along the Seine, directly across from the Louvre, the elegant red brick and limestone building was constructed in 1625 for the Prince of Transylvania. It was later sold off to a minister who – so the story goes – was having an affair with the then-queen of France and met her covertly using a secret tunnel between what is now the Dries store and the Louvre. Fast forward to the 1920s and the space became a groundbreaking gallery, showing the work of upstart artists like Chagall and Picasso.
