Dior Men Fall/Winter 2020 Menswear Review
Kim Jones has finally gotten into his stride at Dior Men. Since becoming the Artistic Director of the heritage brand’s menswear collections in 2018, Jones has collaborated with various artists and creatives to bring relevance to the shows. First was KAWS for Spring 2019, with the artist’s signature cartoon figures stamped throughout the collection on leather goods and shirts. The same figure appeared thirty feet tall in the center of the catwalk, adorned in pink roses. After KAWS came Stussy, who, for Pre-Fall 2020, reimagined the Dior logo in a graffiti print and made sneakers that still sell like crazy. Hypebeasts still hunt for both Dior collabs, which sell and resell for thousands of dollars per piece.
While the collabs has certainly made Dior tons of money, Jones now wants to focus on the craft and fabrication of his menswear. Last season he sent glorious models down a conveyer belt, each look combining sublime tailoring with couture draping and decadent beadwork. It was as ingenious and experimental as it was flawless and desirable. Though it could’ve been so easy for this collection to be dismissed as too fay or flaming, Jones instead made it equally masculine with desirable leathers and puffer jackets.
For Fall 2020, Jones has taken it to the next level. The infamous Judy Blame was a primary reference, who Jones was working with before the iconoclast’s untimely death in 2018. Blame was a punk, a fashion alchemist, a true original in the fashion industry who often said he could turn a piece of trash into the most fashionable thing in the world. On paper Blame was a stylist for magazines such as The Face and several music videos. Blame loved couture, said Jones to Tim Blanks of Business of Fashion. That’s because Blame wasn’t into fashion for the ego boost; he truly loved the construction and revolution in clothes. Jones took what Blame loved and honored it on the catwalk for Dior for this collection.
Blame could be seen in the decorative charms on belt chains and swinging from jacket lapels. The first look, a divine blue gray moiré coat hit like a tequila shot of glamour. Paired with pearl-trimmed white leather opera gloves, a paisley cashmere turtleneck, and excellently tailored pinstripe trousers, the entire look instantly set the theme for collection: couture techniques and fabrics with traditional masculine tailoring and leathers. Knitwear was woven into an oversized toile pattern, paisleys expanded and decorated suits, and Blume-esque chains bounced from the models.
Stephen Jones, who was a contemporary of Blume and a close friend, made a beret nearly every model. Other accessories included silk satin fringed opera scarves crushed into rosettes, a technique Monsieur Christian Dior certainly would have done when he worked from his couture studio after World War II. Every model also had pearl earrings, with a few decorations on the face to extend the beauty of the clothes to the models wearing them. Euro-centric masculinity rejects the idea that men can decorate themselves. Machismo culture over the last century has held its grip on men’s fashion for far too long. Several journalists and fashion enthusiasts in attendance instantly breathed a sigh of relief as the collection progressed; one of the biggest menswear houses in Paris wasn’t afraid to create divine and gorgeous clothes for men.
The finale coat was made of thousands of crystals that dazzled in front of iPhone cameras and made a massive impact on the Instagram generation. Jones’ Dior collection will create desire due to its beauty. The clothes were beautifully made and impactful the way couture should be impactful. And that will make Jones very successful at Dior.
Photos Courtesy of VogueRunway.com