Early career After graduating Van Assche moved to Paris in 1998. He was immediately appointed at
Yves Saint Laurent as
Hedi Slimane's first assistant for the Rive Gauche Homme line. The collaboration with Slimane continued at
Christian Dior for the launching and development of the Dior Homme collection until September 2004. In January 2005, Van Assche finally presented his own men's collection for the first time in Paris during Men's Fashion Week.
KRISVANASSCHE, 2005–2015 In addition to his work at Dior, Van Assche founded his own label in 2005. In June 2013, he opened the first KRISVANASSCHE boutique in Paris. Designed by Ciguë, it was located in the 1st arrondissement, at 16 rue Saint Roch. In 2012 and 2013, KRISVANASSCHE teamed up with American denim brand
Lee to produce two capsule collections. In late May 2015, after several years of collections often judged as irrelevant by the critics and a style outdated by the new Londoner designers (such as
JW Anderson or
Christopher Shannon), Van Assche announced that he was closing his personal label for the time being, due to the difficulties of being an independent label.
Dior Homme, 2007–2018 Van Assche subsequently served as the artistic director for
Dior Homme from April 2007 to March 2018.
Berluti, 2018–2021 In April 2018, Van Assche was confirmed as the new creative director at luxury brand
Berluti, another LVMH company, following the departure of
Haider Ackermann. His debut Berluti collection was released January 2019. For the 2019
Design Miami fair, Van Assche joined forces with art dealer François Laffanour to present a collection of 17 original
Pierre Jeanneret furniture pieces, restored by Laffanour and upholstered with Berluti’s emblematic Venezia leather. On 21 April 2021, Kris Van Assche announced on his Instagram that his departure from the brand as its artistic director. He also said that during 3 years time in
Berluti had been extremely intense especially in
COVID-19 pandemic period.
Later career In 2021, Van Assche became a mentor of the Master in Creative Direction at
Polimoda fashion school in Florence, Italy. In 2022, Van Assche created a collection for Chinese kidswear company
Balabala, with products for girls and boys ages three to 14. ==Style==