On a crisp October morning, I hopped on the Manhattan-bound F train from Brooklyn with the Dries Van Noten boutique as my destination. The Belgian label opened its doors earlier this year on Mercer Street (its first in the city), in a more quiet pocket of SoHo. I’d walked by it a few times this summer whenever I found myself in the neighborhood, but not nearly as often as I’d passed by its flagship boutique on Nationalestraat in Antwerp ; housed inside Het Modepaleis (a landmark building from 1881), its imposing structure and glowing window displays crystallized my teenage years growing up in Belgium.

Both spaces posses a jewel box-like quality that’s intimate and inviting. Discovery is rewarded here, as there is much to take in, from the ornate clothes to the eclectic art and eccentric

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