The beauty of a Dries Van Noten piece is that though you can vaguely place the geoegrphic origins of the chosen print, you're never going to pinpoint it exactly because of the cut of the garment and the way that ethnic origins are referenced but never blatantly pointed out. From last seasons' graphic clean lines and surprising colour combinations, Dries Van Noten returned to his favoured method of surprise; the rich mixed prints that were made even richer by the jewelled accessories that draped the models' necks. The girls were travellers but also urban in their way of layering the prints. We speak to the master of prints briefly about travelling the world without looking like you've collected passport stamps everywhere.

Dazed Digital: How did you travel the world with your collection without it looking like costume or too thematic?
Dries Van Noten: They are very occidental clothes that are rooted in menswear; mens jackets, mens shirts. It's so eclectic that you don't recognise it as one ethnicity or another. We just used all those rich and eclectic patterned fabrics as you would do with plain fabrics. So you end up with a printed shirt, with printed trousers etc.

DD: How do you always manage to balance so many elements into one collection?
Dries Van Noten: I don't know! For me it comes quite naturally. I really want to play with clothes. It's a joy to have so many fabrics to play with.

DD: And if you could sum up your collection in one word?
Dries Van Noten: It's authenticity I think. The clothes come straight from the heart and I want to make clothes for real people who will wear them for a long time and not just for one season.

Photos by Judith Elias-Johnson