DIOR • Winter 2024

“There is a certain art deco fluidity and glamour in this collection – there is also an idea of the future from the past. A feeling of ‘loucheness,’ of pleasure, particularly the pleasure of dressing, is all part of it. It’s about simplicity and sophistication through ease. At its heart, the collection is about tailoring, it’s about suiting and what that signifies at Dior. We have absorbed so much of the archive by this point and we also have our own archive that we revisit. I think it adds to a feeling of elegance and effortlessness in what we’re doing. It’s not just about the past, but about bringing techniques into the future – it’s an idea of future archive.” Kim Jones

 

 

An art deco idea of the future from the past, fashioned from the structures and symbols of earlier epochs, finds its resonance in the Fall Dior collection. Here, a fusion of past, present and future finds form in an evocation of the Dior archives, built mainly on the foundations of Monsieur Dior and Monsieur Saint Laurent’s legacies.

 

Fluid, sinuous suiting glides from day to night, and night to day, while hybridised styles morph one into one another. Archetypes blur, moving from one to the next. There is often a combination of two pieces in one, such as the recurring dropped shawl lapel jackets and coats that feature the longer lines, ease and fluidity of robes; or the new, relaxed ‘three-piece suit’ – the first that Kim Jones as Artistic Director has produced for Dior Men – that eschews convention and embraces insouciance, at times utilizing tailored shorts.

 

 

Archival examples are taken from the haute couture past and made present, particularly from Monsieur Dior and Monsieur Saint Laurent, influencing fluid pattern cutting as well as decoration. Here, the striped embroidery from the Pépite dress conceived by Monsieur Dior for autumn-winter 1952, and there the floral embroidery from Yves Saint Laurent's spring-summer 1958 Jazz model can be found on relaxed, open shirting. The recurring tie fastenings that travel through the entire collection are based on a motif from Yves Saint Laurent's spring-summer 1958 Trapèze collection.

 

Each approach explores and furthers an idea of masculine savoir-faire both in a traditional and contemporary sense. While centered around suiting, there is still a reinforcement of the codes of functionality and utility that have been instigated in Dior collections and have become intrinsic to them over the last six years, particularly in the functional and military-inspired outerwear and accessories.

 

Shoes are hybridized: an amalgam of crossed archetypes. The main focus is a satin dancing slipper crossed with the construction of a car shoe – it appears in loafer and sneaker form. The sole is comprised of injection rubber and leather and features a ‘distorted cannage’ for grip. It is light and malleable, fitting the fluidity of the clothing.

 

Bags are practical to purposely offset the elegance of the silhouettes while, incorporating fabrications from outerwear on occasion. A relaxed, easy feel runs throughout in soft leather goods, while tech and tactical bags give a different view of luxury and what comprises savoir-faire today for men. Here, high luxury meets high functionality with relevance beyond materiality and finish to advanced ease of usability and technical specificity.