(Paris) While British designer Kim Jones is inspired by Christian Dior’s iconic women’s pieces for his men’s collection, presented Friday in Paris, he admits that wearing such outfits could be dangerous in some countries.
Posted at 10:47 a.m.
“We live in cities and they are incredibly open, but as soon as you leave them, it’s not the same,” Kim Jones told AFP before the parade, which took place in a setting representing the Alexandre III bridge and the banks of the Seine during men’s ready-to-wear week in Paris.
“There are 40 countries in the world where, if you were dressed like that, you would be killed”, continues the designer, artistic director of men’s collections at Dior, who in 2020 had replaced Karl Lagerfeld in the Fendi house where he is in in charge of women’s collections.
Sweater embroidered with silk flowers
The centerpiece of his collection is the masculinized “bar jacket”. This hourglass silhouette, sensual and ultra-feminine, is emblematic of the New Look imagined by Christian Dior in 1947.
PHOTO MICHEL EULER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The centerpiece of his collection is the masculinized “bar jacket”. This hourglass silhouette, sensual and ultra-feminine, is emblematic of the New Look imagined by Christian Dior in 1947.
“It’s a tribute to the founder, but designed in a masculine way. There is nothing old or theatrical about it. These are cool, modern jackets that look proud and flatter a young man,” says Kim Jones.
In this collection, “you see everything that Dior stands for: the bar jacket, the embroidery, the leopard print, the Prince of Wales checks. Gardening pants, because obviously Christian Dior loved gardening,” emphasizes Kim Jones, who combines British menswear and French haute couture tailoring with raw details in this new cut.
“It’s very Dior, quite simply! “.
Gray in a multitude of shades dominates the palette.
PHOTO MICHEL EULER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gray in a multitude of shades dominates the palette of the Dior collection.
“The colors are very Parisian and very Dior, they are also my favorite colors”, says the stylist wearing a sweatshirt hoodie and gray casual pants.
Loafers or clutches set with crystals, neckline on the back, coat embroidered with sequins: “feminine” touches are omnipresent.
The white sweater decorated with pearls and hand-cut silk flowers, very “Miss Dior”, is worn over a wide shirt with gardening trousers and clog mules combining chic and practicality.
Stuck in the 40’s
The masculine-feminine mix is a commonplace thing in a Fashion Week, where men’s fashion is freed from the shackles of old-fashioned virility and where the “genderless” aesthetic is claimed by most houses.
PHOTO VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA, REUTERS
“One thing I’m discovering now that I’m doing womenswear is how limited menswear is. The men’s wardrobe hasn’t changed much since the 1940s, ”says Kim Jones.
London has given up on the distinction between men’s and women’s fashion weeks and if Paris officially maintains it, most brands present mixed collections.
But for Kim Jones, 42, there is still a long way to go.
As a child, he himself traveled a lot with his geologist father. “I’m lucky, I grew up all over the world so I’ve seen it all and I understand that we live in a bubble”.
“One thing I’m discovering now that I’m doing womenswear is how limited menswear is. The men’s wardrobe hasn’t changed much since the 1940s,” says the designer.
Yet people have changed their way of life and are looking for “ease and lightness”: “I see it through sales, talking to customers”.
He considers his current priority – with the world still mired in the pandemic – to be creating pieces that are both formal and informal, cheerful and easy to wear.