Kris Van Assche is returning to fashion with a new project that brings together menswear and womenswear through a more personal and focused approach. After leading KRISVANASSCHE, working at Dior and Berluti, and expanding into design objects, sculpture and collaborations, the designer is turning his attention back to clothing with a collection built around a smaller scale and a selective point of view.
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Van Assche graduated in womenswear from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1998, yet most of his career developed through menswear. The desire to return to womenswear remained present throughout that period. This new project gives him the opportunity to bring both areas together within the same creative framework.
The first collection begins from a deliberately edited position. Instead of developing a broad range and reducing it later, Van Assche started with a concentrated selection of pieces that he considers necessary to the story. He describes the approach as essential without becoming basic, with each item carrying a clear role within the wider idea.
Van Assche uses high-quality deadstock fabrics, allowing him to work in smaller quantities while introducing a sense of rarity to the collection. The material choice supports a slower model that does not depend on large seasonal volumes.
Some pieces revisit elements associated with the earlier KRISVANASSCHE vocabulary. Van Assche adjusts those ideas through new proportions and places them within a current context. Other garments introduce entirely new directions. Across the collection, masculine and feminine codes sit together as visual and structural contrasts. That approach reflects the designer’s intention to create a wardrobe for both him and her without relying on traditional divisions.
Van Assche also plans to work outside the traditional fashion calendar. He wants the project to develop at its own pace, with new releases appearing only when there is something distinct to introduce. The first collection establishes the starting vocabulary, while future drops may take different forms depending on the ideas he wants to explore.
The return to clothing comes from a desire to make work that feels personal and human. Van Assche positions the project against an environment he sees as increasingly artificial, heavily retouched and detached from direct experience. For the designer, this new chapter is less about restarting a fashion career than returning to the original reasons he wanted to make clothes.
