#FASHIONWEEK: Paris Fashion Week – In Review – Dior MEN SS19

It’s been an incredible week of shows, showstoppers and firsts for Paris Fashion Week. How anyone can get through all the excitement and fever in the air in one piece is beyond me. Another FAV Paris House of Couture of mine, The House of Christian Dior, did the most when it debuted the first collection from the new Head of Creative for Men: Kim Jones. Kim Jones is famous for his work at LVMH’s Louis Vuitton stable and gained cult status with newer generations with his last collection at the French house when he collaborated with SUPREME. Now at Dior, the designer was cited to deliver similar aesthetic results – to the world’s surprise, he didn’t. Well, not in his entirety, anyways.

For his first order of business, Kim Jones worked on rebirthing the brand’s men’s division through a slight name change. We know Hedi Slimane did something similar with YSL when he dropped the Yves in favour of Saint Laurent – the fashion fraternity was not exactly pleased but the title seemed to grow on everyone. At Dior, Mr Jones opted to exchange the French term for men, Homme, with Men – so now we have: Dior MEN. Everything that came after that was simply befitting.

Layer 1: THE HISTORY

To kick-off his tenure at the French Couture house, Jones considered the beginning as a very good place to start. So much so, that he looked to the man who started it all, Mr Christian Dior himself. Looking at his personality, Jones took away the man’s love affair with gardens and nature. Further on that particular point, he pin-pointed the exact rose that had always capture Mr Dior’s heart. Moving down the timeline, Jones sought refuge in the decorative toile de jouy patterns which wallpapered the Dior flagship store around 1947. Swiping through the time capsule, Kim also looked at the famous Dior monogram made infamously famous when it launched with the Saddle bag for women and one of his last stunts at memory lane was taking on the iconic Dior Bee and introducing it to the 21^st Century man.

Layer 2: THE COLLABORATIONS

In making his debut happening – in the manner best suited to the times – Kim looked to creative around him who transcend everyday normalities through the creation of extraordinarily standard creative art. For the set design, Kim commissioned popular culture artist KAWS or better known as, Brian Donnelly, to translate Mr Dior and his faithful dog, Bobby, into a 305cm centrepiece statue made solely of pink, white and black roses. The House of Dior sought Yoon Ahn to handle the jewellery design for the collection, Matthew Williams of Alyx to manage the C-D logo buckles on all accessories and DJ Diplo on the soundtrack to a new era the models marched the runway to.

Layer 3: THE COLLECTION

The collection that was produced sparked a whole new outlook for the brand. It is light, fun, flirtatious, sensual and much more robust in its shape and form. It did not scent of the previously rigid and almost morbidly dark collections of predecessors Kris van Assche and Hedi Slimane. It had the flurry of a fleeting heart at the bottom of a stomach’s pit with all the confidence a man whose masculinity was not up for debate. Its play with fabrications, layering and floral accents give it a sense of dexterity and virility. Kim might have veered off focusing on street, yet it translates so intimately in this collection that its level of edge is more opulently atelier, than robust sports conduit. It truly is a great beginning and we are eagerly anticipating future collections.

Watch the full show here:

#parisfashionweek #pfw #menswear #diorMEN #kimjones