Josh Peskowitz, designer, Feit footwear: “Fashion is not the same as technology or resource extraction. Brands grow too fast, with the expectation that they’ll keep scaling up. But our business is built on intangibles. The true mystique is being able to build a world people want to inhabit. Dries did that for a really long time.”
Matthew Schneier, restaurant critic New York magazine (and former fashion reporter for The New York Times): “When, in my salad days, I was trying to figure out what my style was while pretending I’d always known, I found Dries made the clothes I actually wanted. His was also the show you wanted to attend, the store in Paris that was everyone’s first stop the minute they dropped their bags.”
Bruce Pask, senior editorial director, Neiman Marcus: “You’d jump in a taxi and say ‘Quai Malaquais, stat!’ The store is this comprehensive vision of a retail experience, with lacquer walls and velvet sofas and real art. It reflects his vision of what men’s wear can be — personal and experimental, with off colors and clashing patterns, but grounded in basics. Khakis with a trench coat belt that wraps around the waist, an unconstructed cotton jacket. Much as you may love the fantasy of it, you can interpret his designs in practical ways.”
Mr. Schneier: “Now all the luxury brands have obligatory art treasures to show off in their stores. Dries quietly hung a van Dyck portrait in his.”
Mr. Pask: “He understands emotion and storytelling in fashion, and over the years he has created this narrative arc from memorable moments. No one who was there will ever forget his men’s wear show of 2016, when he showed on the raked stage of the Palais Garnier opera house.”
Mr. Berkowitz: “Guests filed in through the backstage area and sat in the wings onstage, facing out toward the house. The curtain was open on this beautiful gilded auditorium. You waited in silence, and then suddenly the models walked across the proscenium through your line of vision — magical.”
Mr. Patner: “Probably the only shows that ever brought me to tears were Yohji Yamamoto and Dries.”