The show was a through-the-floor experience
It was the futuristic dream version of Cher Horowitz’s computerised wardrobe: at the push of a button, 51 complete looks for day and leisure elevated through Dior’s silver floor on square platforms. Presented in a structure within the grounds of the École Militaire, the show had all the hi-tech romance that has defined Kim Jones’s last five years of showmanship at the house. The invitation – a silver material with the number five embossed into it – celebrated the half decennial. Christian Dior saw his house through the first 10 years of its existence and laid a foundation that would inspire eight designers in his wake. This season, Jones’s collection drew inspiration from at least six of them.
The collection paid tribute to the designers of Dior
“I suppose this collection is a collage of influences that comes from the continuum of Dior designers – and says something about myself, too. We looked at Mr Dior, Mr Saint Laurent, Mr Bohan and Mr Ferre, combining influences,” Jones explained. There was easily an archival metaphor to be found in the theatrics of the show. Pushed up through the floor, it was as if each look had been pulled out of an underground library or laboratory like a historical or scientific specimen ready for inspection. One by one, they walked to the glasslike beat of Primal Scream’s “Higher Than the Sun” before returning to their platform and disappearing into the floor again.
It was romantic futurism
Clad in Jones’s reimagined collages of pan-Diorian references, the exercise had a beam-me-up-Scotty quality about it, as if each look had travelled through time and been adapted to the present day, or indeed the future. Every evocative silhouette or traditional garment was amplified through texture or ornamentation, such as tailoring that looked like bouclé constructed in the house’s emblematic cannage motif, or tennis twinsets encrusted with jewels, or vests re-contextualised in leopard print. “This is something I have never really done before in my collections for the house,” Jones said, referring to his remix of the work of former Dior custodians. “As it’s my fifth anniversary at Dior, it felt like the right time.”
It was inspired by New Wave and Blitz Kids
In a time when designers are experimenting with new silhouettes to rule the menswear game – following fashion’s longtime love affair with oversized everything – Jones proposed a boxy, layered line with a couture-like domed shoulder and cropped columnar trousers. It felt at once like an exaggerated version of 1950s form language – where it all began – but also a bit like something a club kid could have repurposed in the ’80s. “There is an underlying sense of the New Wave in the collection,” Jones said, explaining how his relationship with milliner and Dior historian extraordinaire Stephen Jones continues to inspire his work for the house. “Stephen was one of those Blitz Kids that were seen as so much part of that. It was also an exciting time for Paris nightlife, where different social groups were hanging out together.”
It featured Chinese “ronghua” hats by Stephen Jones
Jones created beanie hats for the collection with the haute couture knitter Cecile Feilchenfeldt inspired by the liberty caps of the New Wave look. They featured “ronghua” adornments created in the tradition of ancient Chinese velvet floral embellishments crafted by master artisans in pastels that cemented the romantic tone of the collection. “There are a lot of things I like about Dior running through this collection – including Stephen Jones. He’s become a bit of a muse for me this season,” Jones said. “In my five years at Dior, I have grown to love being in the archives, and Stephen Jones has been my navigator a lot of the time. He’s been here a long time and he is a walking history of Dior.”
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