Dries Van Noten Offers a Blueprint for Unexpected Spring 2026 Color Combinations

Dries Van Noten is a brand synonymous with color. For decades, its founder and namesake built a vivid world filled with blooming florals, rich textures, and a more-is-more approach to prints, setting more than a few color trends along the way. Though he retired last summer, his legacy lives on with creative director Julien Klausner (who actually worked on the design team before taking over the top job). You can tell that he inherently understands what makes the brand so compelling: Klausner's latest collection, shown during Paris Fashion Week, is a blueprint for the spring color trends your closet never saw coming.

Dries Van Noten's Spring 2026 runway offered a playbook for putting unlikely colors together in unexpected ways—and not in a "these are my favorite sports team's colors so I kind of have no choice" way. Rather, an "I have an outfit vision" way.

Chocolate brown, for example, is typically treated as a neutral, paired back to creams and other soft shades. But Dries Van Noten supercharged the saturation, making it pop against sky blue in a swirling floral print. The brand added more contrast with texture: one top was shown with a translucent blue-on-blue skirt, the other with a bright blue feathered midi and matching clutch.

The result is an instant mood-booster—which is what Klausner hoped for: "My first idea for this collection was to convey a sense of ease and optimism," he wrote in show notes shared on Instagram. (He was specifically inspired by a sunset on the beach, watching surfers catch their last waves of the day.)

Fearless color combinations is textbook Dries, yet it feels as timely as ever, as we've seen a delectable palette emerge for fall. (Mustard yellow, maroon red, chocolate brown, and pumpkin orange are just a few of our favorite seasonal hues du jour.) Klausner pitched some new savory pair-ups for spring, such as deep eggplant purple with kale green in an embellished top and jacket, styled either with orange and white stripes or rich salad greens.

These looks aren't for wallflowers. They're for people that want to send a strong message about who they are, wherever they are. What better way to tell the world you're an aesthete than by buttoning up a royal and light blue floral blazer with a black-embroidered canary yellow skirt, or a canary yellow coat with a feathered blue pouch bag and ballet sneakers? According to Dries Van Noten, a loud palette is the real luxury.