Can menswear be romantic and,well,optimistic? For his first show as Dior’s creative director, Kim Jones’ approach was an exemplary one albeit different from his predecessors.Gone were the subtle,dark elegance of Kriss Van Assche’s long tenure in Dior and the rigid tailoring of the now infamous Hedi Slimane jackets.The success of Jones’ show was based on inspiration and references directly from the Dior archives thus creating a new series of codes,a new Dior Homme,properly rechristened as Dior Men.
The show notes described Kim Jones’ ‘mission’ as: “translating a quintessentially feminine couture identity into a masculine idiom.” To achieve that, he made full use of the House’s ateliers,with the couture-like craftsmanship adding a sense of luxury and uniqueness that was refreshing and attracting to younger customers
Taking advantage from Dior’s design heritage and exploiting the great potential of ateliers, Kim Jones ‘reinvented’ the asymmetric cut used by Dior himself in his Autumn-Winter 1950 collection as the basis for a new jacket design,the Tailleur Oblique.In terms of color, a subtle palette of sand,pink and grey was used breathing fresh air to the idea of menswear being too stiff or too loud.
Kim Jones’ decision to reference Dior’s rich heritage as a series of recognizable visual codes signified a creative sequence in the House,a new visual vocabulary emerging.The invitation of street artist KAWS to create a giant sculpture of Christian Dior and his favorite dog (in the style of KAWS’s famous BFF character) overseeing the catwalk,the abundance of roses (Dior’s favorite flower) and the bee logo used in jewelry designed by Yoon Ahn just showed exactly how personal this show was.
image credit:Yannis Vlamos/Indigital.tv
