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Quite like the Snider hidden placket shirts up on Wrong Weather. Might reach for some this winter sales if any of them get to sales.

Dries frequently bases and themes his collections on farflung countries, cultures and worlds. A big fan of travelling, he likes to build collections on an imagined trip somewhere (preferring the idea of an imagined trip with all of its clichés and historical inspirations to taking directly from real life). Let's visit the world with him a little shall we.

Went to Antwerp yesterday. Saw the Raf-Ruby shop and took bad photos with my tablet like a dork.

Huge warehousey space, decorated sparsley with the american flag arches that ruby did for the show. Dark Side Of The Moon echoing around the place on repeat.

















The opening of the shop was a party friday night that I couldn't go to (too late for trains, had other commitments) but I was talking to someone who went and apparently Dries was there along with a bunch of other modeontwerper types (think An Vandevorst was there too).

Later in the evening I went to a party at my favourite second-hand/overstock store and hung with the fashion-scene crowd of Antwerp all night - was a load of fun. Very strange to be amongst so many people all wearing recognisable designer garms (too many margiela stitches to count). Got some compliments on the high-risedness of my trews. Felt good about my outfit in general, worked well. Was still too awkward to talk to many people there but the ones I did were lovely.

Spent all night trying not to buy anything but genuinely have no willpower so bought a Schneider cardi-jacket thing overstocked from AW13



Telling myself it fills an important hole in my wardrobe which it probably does to be fair.

At the 11th hour (well, 10th) I learned that Raf's atelier is the nondescript building across from that shop, that Raf hangs around smoking outside it often (when in Antwerp, he splits his time between there and Paris) and is super friendly. Oh my.

Parka looks cool, how much.

Make your own Martin Margiela waistcoat

in British English a waistcoat is what Americans would call a vest; a vest is what you'd call a tank top, and a tank top is what you'd call a sweater vest.

Tales from the sales!

Sample sales were amazing - huge warehouses of stuff to rummage through and pillage for bargains.

Only got a few photos with my bowl of soup.

Dries - mad queue for this one, so many people. Got in nice and early though. Huge warehouse right on the quayside.





Fabrics:



Raf - super cool to see so much Raf stuff (including vintage/second hand pieces) under one roof. That roof is the former site of the RS/SR popup shop. Prices were batshit.



Rafabrics



Schneider - wasn't actually started officially, that's tomorrow. But I got insider scoop on a pre-sale invite-only event in the evening and promptly invited myself. Unreal amount of stock and such good prices. Cash only though and I was too fatigued by this point to handle more buying. Will go back on saturday and pick through any scraps.





Fabrics





Did good personally: no outlandish prints from Dries (was AW13 and SS13 stock on sale.

Got a Dries woollen overcoat (desperately needed and about the same price as that pretty lame COS one i was going to buy)



Extra long lightweight Dries shirt



Pair of black slim cut beltless trousers from Dries in heavy flannel wool. Excellent fit. No photo because there's no point in photographing black trousers.

Raf jumper - only €50 get in. Photo is less convincing of its pleasantness than in person. It's pretty long but slim, bunches up nicely in all the right places and the material is a super weird spongy bouncy knit.







Here it is on the runway in blue:



Oh and some gloves from Morrison



Successfully stopped myself from buying a second hand beige Margiela cotton overcoat - that thing was amazing. Too much coin spent already though. Will regret not buying that heavily in a few months.

I'm so tired

If ever in Antwerp be sure to visit Jan Jan Van Essche's shop - absolutely beautiful little space crammed full of little homewear, knick-knacks, curiosos and wonders. Extremely coherent and wonderful style to the whole shop. Stocks both JJVE goods and stuff by German-born Antwerp based Daniel Andresen whose stuff is really exciting. Jan Jan himself works at the store but I didn't meet him yesterday sadly, just his impeccably styled partner.









Had another great day in Antwerp yesterday, much more relaxed and low-key than wednesday's madness. Got a cheap (€35) Schneider scarf, a metre of Schneider quilted fabric for , some mugs from JJVE's shop and a copy of Waiting For Godot from a really amazing treasure-trove of a bookstore without a name.

Bam Bam Van Etcha sktch interview

http://www.freundevonfreunden.com/inter ... an-essche/

Apparently Raf drives a pastel pink Audi. Get on it .

Also I plunge deeper down the victim hole.

Dries Van Noten exhibition opens tomorrow in Antwerp if you missed it in Paris like myself. Inside scoop is that he was pretty demanding about the museum space and had them repaint and refurbish the place just for the exhibition. They can't afford to put it back as it was afterwards either.

Primal Scream - 2013. Video directed by Rei Nadal.



Features two teenage skinheads making out in Margiela masks





(Shirt the one guy is wearing is by British designer Claire Barrow fyi)

Raf has a new car it's black #hottestcelebgossip

raf seems like the kind of dude who would buy a tricked out phaeton

Raf doesn't seem like someone who would even care about owning a car/getting his license