Dior declares men’s fashion future to be suited and booted

Dior set out to redefine 21th-century tailoring
on Friday in a show which summed up a Paris men’s fashion week in which the
suit has made a surprising comeback.

British-born designer Kim Jones drew inspiration from the French
capital’s
heroic statuary to suggest that there was no better armour for the modern
man
than well-cut clothes.

His spectacular show in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower had models
standing
still like statues on a moving conveyer belt catwalk.

The mesmerising effect made it look as if they were gliding or
skateboarding to a techno disco beat.
Jones, in only his second Paris show for the mythic French label since
leaving Louis Vuitton, sent out a sleek, dark-hued riposte to the oversized
trend that has dominated men’s fashion for several seasons.

Big on blacks, greys and burnished silky browns, his suits and
trousers
were cut close to the body, with some given added panache with long scarfs
worn like the sashes so beloved of 17th-century cavaliers.
Stylised utility vests worn over suits like bulletproof jackets gave
some
of his models the air of postmodern hussars.

“For me the suit and the tailored jacket are the key things which say
Dior,” Jones told AFP. “It is elegance, tailoring and couture.
“We have made the black suits cooler and a bit more fashion with new
boots… and the scarves are inspired by a dress by Christian Dior (the
label’s founder) from 1952,” he said.

Streetwise luxury

Leather trousers and mink and plasticised silk bomber jackets gave
the
whole thing a sheen of unapologetic streetwise luxury.
“We are taking utilitarian things and making them in fine fabrics,” the
designer added.

Jones also dotted his winter Dior Homme line with leopard print in
another
nod to the legacy of the house’s founder, the feline, feminine feel
softening
the collection’s hard edges.
But artworks commissioned from the cult Los Angeles punk artist Raymond
Pettibon were the collection’s main print motifs, principally his pouty,
Lauren Bacall-esque rendering of the “Mona Lisa”.

Despite their punk provenance, Jones called the images “quite
romantic”.
And like the dog-loving Dior he also referenced his own Pomeranian
pooch,
Cookie, in his redesign of the label’s classic saddlebags.
Dior had moved its show from Saturday to Friday to avoid the weekly
“yellow
vests” protests which have plagued the French capital most weekends for
nearly
two months.

The anti-government demonstrations often turn violent and Dior’s
flagship
shop on the Champs Elysees was looted after a rally in November.
Other protesters scrawled “The people want (to wear) Dior” on its nearby
headquarters.
Several other luxury brands have been targeted by the “yellow vests”
activists, with boarded-up boutiques regularly scrawled with graffiti
denouncing the rich.(AFP)

Photos: Dior Homme AW19, Catwalkpictures.com