Kris Van Assche relaunches namesake fashion brand

Belgian designer Kris Van Assche is relaunching his eponymous fashion brand after an 11-year hiatus. Having previously led creative directions for Dior Homme and Berluti, Van Assche is returning to his roots with a new approach to design.

In this new chapter, the brand will present both menswear and womenswear within the same collections. This marks a shift for the designer, who has focused primarily on menswear since graduating from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. His new vision aims to use masculine and feminine codes as contrasting elements that highlight one another rather than as tools for gender categorization.

The brand will move away from the traditional fashion calendar, opting to release new items only when there is a genuine need to communicate something new. Production will be intentionally limited, utilizing high-quality deadstock fabrics to ensure scarcity. The collections will feature a mix of reconstructed past ideas with modern proportions and entirely new designs, centered on the theme of being ‘essential but never basic.’