The age of Kim Jones Behind the designer's aesthetic that brought Dior into the digital age

Dior's Pre-Fall 2020 show in Miami was a triumph for the French fashion house, but even bigger for Kim Jones, Creative Director of the Menswear line. When Jones arrived from Dior, after seven years at the head of Louis Vuitton's men's line, he launched the brand's identity in new directions, after the ten years of artistic direction of Kris Van Assche.  The Belgian designer and Hedi Slimane before him had ferried Dior in the 2000s, a world (and a market) very different from that of today, influenced by different artistic and cultural references. If Kris Van Assche had already had the merit of inserting elements of streetwear into the collections of the fashion house, keeping his aesthetic young (it was during his regency that Aaap Rocky and Rami Malek became the faces of Dior Homme), the emphasis he placed on tailoring prevented Dior from truly breaking into the pop world. 

For the SS19 show in Paris - his debut at the helm of the maison - a 30-metre-high christian Dior statue made by Kaws stood in the centre of the catwalk. In this tribute to the legendary coutourier lies all the poetics of Jones: reinterpreting the past by celebrating it through the works of one of the most innovative contemporary artists. The reason for this tribute? Christian Dior was an art collector and friend of the greatest artists of his time, innovative painters, celebrated in museums at the time as now are Kaws and Raymond Pettibon and Daniel Arsham. Jones himself stated:

“[Christian Dior] was a gallerist who worked with Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and lots of artists who were famous while alive. I wanted to do that for the digital generation.”.

Jones brought back Dior's symbiosis with art, collaborating with artists such as Kaws, Hajime Sorayama, Raymond Pettibon and Shawn Stussy. This type of operation is not only the perfect example of the "restoration" operation carried out on the Dior identity, but also reflects Jones' attitude towards collaborations.

If you want to know more about Dior's latest show, nss magazine has dedicated a full article to the show and a closer look at the latest creative with whom he collaborated, Shawn Stussy. If you want to delve into the story behind the Dior x Air Jordan 1, Dior has just released a video in which sneaker guru Sean Wotherspoon discusses the history and inspiration that led to the creation of the shoe.