Belgian designer Dries Van Noten has realised two special edition books to document his men’s and women’s FW16 collections.

The specially created tomes, available at Dries Van Noten boutiques worldwide, aim to capture the spirit of both collections: the women’s profiling Dries’ collaboration with British artist Gill Button for FW16, the men’s documenting the designer’s monumental moment in February when he presented his collection on the stage of the Palais Opera Garnier, achieving a seventeen-year dream. The images in the latter book are sourced from a combination of commissioned photographers, invited amateurs and social media, channeling first-hand the experiences of the guests.

The books are a fitting tribute to Dries’ romantic and holistic approach to his collections. Hailed as one of the avant-garde Antwerp Six (who rose up out of the city’s prestigious Royal Academy), in 2014, he staged an exhibition at Paris’ Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which took visitors through rooms known as “gardens” in a kind of installation album – with art, film, sculpture and objects instead of snapshots – that traced his 30-years of design.

Dries’ show at the Palais Garnier continues to build on this stock of poetic moments, feeding into his clothing’s perpetual state of romance and mystery. Charles Garnier’s neo-baroque masterpiece was, after all, the mythical birthplace of the world’s most famous gothic ghost, The Phantom of the Opera.

The books are now available from Dries Van Noten boutiques worldwide while limited stocks last.