Today was a landmark milestone for Dries Van Noten. The Belgian designer – who has been making his mark on fashion since graduating as a member of the ‘Antwerp Six’ in the 80s – staged his 100th show this afternoon in Paris, complete with a top model reunion and a print book souvenir commemorating patterns from each collection. 

The show opened with a smiling Kristina de Coninck, who walked in his very first season. Then, familiar faces from the entire timeline of Dries’ career followed, including Amber Valletta, Nadja Auermann, Guinevere van Seenus, Carolyn Murphy and Erin O’ Connor. These seasoned pros joined newer names including Julia Nobis and Hanne Gaby Odiele, with every woman on the runway having previously walked for the designer.

Featuring fluffy faux furs and shimmering tailoring, the collection also reinterpreted various archive prints into something new, harmonious and not nostalgic. With the accompanying book, it was a definitively Dries way of both acknowledging the past and pushing forward at the same time; paying tribute to the last few decades while looking to the next. 

After all, as he says in the documentary set to be an ‘intimate portrait of the fashion designer’, “The magic especially is (when) people can feel that it’s done with a kind of honesty, with passion, and it comes really from your heart.” That’s exactly the kind of ethos which has brought the still independent designer such a celebrated and longstanding career, and which, of course, earned him a well-deserved standing ovation at the close of yesterday’s show. 

Watch the trailer for Dries below: