Kim Jones is and has always been a big name in the fashion industry, and his first collection as artistic director for Dior proves just that.
Growing up in Hammersmith, London, he always had a passion for fashion and design, graduating from Central St Martins College of Art and Design in 2002. He is best known for his start-up at Dunhill, before taking a huge and very privileged role as the creative director at Louis Vuitton. Where he served seven very successful years, arguably changing up the timeless label forever.
Just before his departure from Louis Vuitton, Jone’s famously collaborated with Supreme, a very popular worldwide streetwear brand. The collection was seen as his most impressive from the seven years within the fashion house, adding to his outstanding legacy. Jones iconically departed Louis Vuitton in complete style of course, walking hand-in-hand with two of fashion’s treasures, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, in his final runway show in January 2018.
Dior Menswear was established in 1946 by Christian Dior, who served as the brands director and designer for many years, before being taken over by Kris Van Assche who was the artistic director for eleven years. The announcement of Jone’s new role, taking over Assche, came merely two months after leaving Louis Vuitton, giving him less than four months to scour the archives and piece together a memorable and reputable collection.
The first edgy and stylish touch Jones implemented within the fashion house was renaming ‘Dior Menswear’ to ‘Dior Homme’ – well we all know the French language is classic and sexy so why not. This was actually an ode to Christian Dior, in fact the entire collection was in respect of the original founder. Jones wanted to take the attention away from his first debut and put all the eyes on the decades of unique designs and boundaries Christian pushed in his years of service.
The Summer 2019 Homme collection was revealed in June 2018, at where other than Paris fashion week. This has always been a big event in the fashion world, but even more so for Kim who had rows and rows of highly respected designers and bloggers. However, this wasn’t his only audience, sat front row were some seriously famous faces such as; A$AP Rocky, Victoria Beckham, the icon Lenny Kravitz, and the queen of fashion herself Kate Moss – and many more of course!
[pullquote]The collection, as I said before, is heavily inspired by previous men’s collections and Jone’s borrowed from a lot of the archives.[/pullquote]The collection, as I said before, is heavily inspired by previous men’s collections and Jone’s borrowed from a lot of the archives. The show notes said it was aiming to channel in its pieces a “feminine couture identity into a masculine idiom.” Personally, I think the collection achieved this, featuring a vast array of transparent vinyls, vibrant colours, florals and even beads and feathers.No, they didn’t go all Black Swan, but they were very heavy handed on the beading. Many models looking like they were either about to fall over from the weight or break the beading on the jewellery and fall on their asses!
Some of Jones’ pieces included a pair of transparent high-top sneakers with the classic Dior logo printed all over the shoe, making it look like something that needed its own glass case. The collection also ranged from pink suits to sheer vests, a transparent pinstripe boiler-suit (you know the standard plumber attire) to stunning floral blazers.
The biggest eye-catcher in the show, apart from Bella Hadid, was a 10-metre-high statue of Christian Dior made from his favourite flower. The statue was designed by Brian Donnelly, also known as KAWS, who collaborated with Kim on not just the statue, but a few of the pieces. KAWS’s famous bee design featured on a boiler-suit, t-shirts, trousers and jackets, adding Jones’ modern menswear touch that he brought with him from Louis Vuitton.
Kim will undoubtedly be with Dior for many years to come and continue to shock and surprise the world with his beautiful designs and revolutionary concepts. The summer collection released on the 30th November 2018, so if you’ve been good this year maybe old Saint Nicholas will grace you with the gift of Dior this Christmas – or just a pair of socks and a Cadbury’s chocolate selection pack like last year.
