Kris Van Assche is a Belgian designer with bucket loads of pedigree. He graduated from the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1998 and dove right into the world of fashion. At the very beginning of his career, his talent was emphatically acknowledged when he was appointed as the first assistant to highly renowned Yves Saint Laurent designer, Hedi Silmane for the Rive Gauche Homme line. Kris has also had a very successful stint at Christian Dior where he again worked with Hedi and also presented his own men’s collection for the first time in 2005. Kris launched his own menswear label in 2005 and followed up with womenswear in 2008. Today he heads his own label, KRISVANASSCHE, and has been the artistic director for Dior Homme since April 2007.
Kris is known for his straightforward and ultra-modern designs. There is a fresh crisp attitude with his clothes and although the silhouettes of his garments don’t always echo those of his mentor, Mr. Silmane, there is definitely the familiar youthful exuberance, the expected laser sharp tailoring and a measured sprinkling of the avant-garde and unexpected. This can be seen vividly in the SS2014 collection that is not devoid of boldness but has the crispness of a cool glass of water accompanied by the freshness of mint and cucumber. The colors (whites, bold blues, bold greens, oranges, blacks and khakis) pull you in and keep you interested. You are forced to develop a personality with his clothes. His clothes make you want to have purpose, invite you to take risks and gently force you to enjoy whatever youth you have left. Short and long sleeved white dress shirts with colored crocodile scaled bib-like fronts add some wildness to the collection.
Some polka dot accent pieces are thrown in there for good measure but the knockout combination has to be black very well-tailored black slightly hanging pants with the black short-sleeved shirt with four buttons right on the sternum and well-crafted epaulets. This look is just fabulous and would work with dressy or casual footwear. All in all, Kris Van Assche gives you wearable elegance with clothes that inspire thought and progress.
See the looks in the slideshow above.
