Julian Klausner opens his SS26 menswear debut for Dries Van Noten with a mood that slips between clarity and disarray. Just a Perfect Day traces the hours after a long night out the loosened collar, a cummerbund still in place, bare ankles collecting sand. The collection draws from the atmosphere of a lived-in look, where clothing reflects gesture, proximity, and leftover impulse.
Klausner shapes each look through tension. He balances sharp tailoring with ease, offsetting precise seams with unruly finishes. Formal codes remain, but they arrive bent. Jackets stretch across the torso but break softly at the waist. Drawstring shorts replace trousers under tuxedo jackets. Tanks slip beneath cummerbunds.
He expands classic tailoring through unexpected shapes. Coats in double duchesse satin take on sculptural volume, either bell-like or pleated across the back. Ribbed knit cycle shorts introduce contrast beneath. Boat neck tops and wrapped vests layer over white shirts. Certain looks sculpt the waist through stretch jersey, others open it entirely.
Fabrics respond to light and movement. Cloqué jacquards, repurposed from previous seasons, line up in vertical strips, recalling pajama sets. Silk jockey stripes appear without fuss. Ribbed and lace knits show up with equal weight, used for texture rather than effect.
Prints feel softened and elusive. Oversized florals blur into abstraction. Dots stretch and scatter. Smaller motifs repeat in two-tone graphics. Most appear on sarongs and tops, draped or layered without ceremony. The color palette skips between saturated and muted: red with cyan, orange with mauve, pale green with black, grounded by greys and khakis.
Embroideries cut through the collection with quiet precision. Sequins fall across grey jersey like confetti tossed too late. Embroidered tanks and shorts carry a kind of off-duty glamour.
The cummerbund becomes a central motif. He uses it not as an accessory but a tool, tightening silhouettes, dividing color, or pulling together otherwise undone outfits. It returns in ribbed knits, striped patterns, and swirling embroidery.
Footwear tracks the same instinct. Leather dress shoes come with sport laces. Some use crocodile embossing, others hold onto a classic shape. DVN sneakers expand in material: suede in red, satin in pastels, monochrome versions that complete shorter silhouettes. Socks keep pace, fading in or out depending on the look.
Accessories pull from memory. Shells, abalone fragments, and worn rings appear as necklaces. Nothing feels precious, only specific. The bags take on a lived-in logic: the compact Arch and the longer duffel shaped like the DVN sneaker.
Lou Reed plays throughout. The music doesn’t resolve, it drifts just like the collection. Klausner leaves space for the undone, the in-between. His Just a Perfect Day reads less like a conclusion and more like a trace of something that happened. A collection built from the afterimage.
