Paris Men’s Fashion Week S/S 2019 Part 3

Paris's greatest fashion moments: Dior Homme

Dior Homme S/S 2019

That’s the beauty of fashion, nothing ever happens as predicted. When it was clear that Kim Jones was leaving Louis Vuitton as men’s designer, everyone talked about him joining Versace or Burberry. And nobody expected him to remain in the LVMH stable. But that’s exactly what happened, he was appointed as new head designer at Dior Homme while incumbent Kris van Assche was shifted to Berluti.

For Spring Summer 2019, Dior Homme collaborated with American artist Brian Donnelly, better known as KAWS, who designed a humongous KAWS BFF plush toy made out of pink, black, white, beige and red flowers.

What does that tell us? Top LVMH brass moved the tailor Van Assche to the brand in need of a modern suiting idea and Jones to the brand in need of a new more commercial perspective for men’s. Not to say that van Assche didn’t do a good job, but his atelier made nearly couture quality collections but they never inspired the street. Jones at Vuitton and his collaborations with Supreme and other street wear heroes plus his sportswear runway design affinity, made him the perfect candidate to go to a house like Dior which wants to grow. Jones can stay within high fashion perimeters and can still be his festival culture self.

Daywear Dreams: for his debut at Dior Homme, Jones played with a more casual approach on the French tailoring house and showcased cool and fresh wearable designs.

What’s new?

Kim Jones is a very good designer. And his strength is sophisticated sportswear with a nod to tailoring. Dior Homme under Slimane and van Assche has been about experimentations on the perfect tuxedo cut. Today Jones made clear that Dior Homme is no longer about variations of formal wear but daywear.

Highlights?

The few brown and second hand looking brown leather bombers looked super fresh.

The New Look: the single breasted loose fit suits with misplaced button were another sensation at Jones’s Dior Homme presentation – they were made in different colors and even Prince Nikolai of Denmark (picture on the right), who opened and closed the show, rocked the new take on tailoring.

The tailoring looked like what?

Jones decided to bring his new sportswear driven vision at full speed but still wanted to express a classic message. So some of his jackets had only one button and were single breasted. But to add new dimensions, he cleverly placed the button at the extreme right of the torso to display his fabrics and the cut.

A dark brown leather jacket with zipper in a vintage used look worn above a blue and white striped shirt, combined with a matching long and sheer blue and white striped pants which gives a hint of short shorts underneath and light beige combat boots.

A baseball cap with Rococo print and silver seatbelt buckle, combined with a big golden chain necklace, a matching Rococo tapestry coat and dark brown tank top, a light beige Dior logo belt with silver seatbelt buckle, combined with sand colored pleated pants and white sneakers.

Why this will work?

Dior wants to grow and needs iconic but sellable clothes. Jones delivered today. His vision of Dior is more inclusive and much younger than before.