The highly anticipated Dior menswear made its official debut last Friday in Hong Kong time, presenting another guestless, audience-less Winter 2021-2022 collection. Continuing the trend of past seasons, the brand collaborated with artists to inspire more impossibilities, with guest designer and creative director Kim Jones. After several seasons of different collaborations, this season Kim Jones officially brought in the influential Scottish painting master Peter Doig from the contemporary art world to embark on another thoroughly integrated creation for Dior Men, presenting a magnificent and artistic new season fashion show.
From the past few seasons to now, every time Kim Jones presents, he brings multiple focal points, not only interpreting the clothing craftsmanship with the core theme and concept, but also putting equal thought into venue layout, off-site topics, etc., in order to accurately convey the message. Therefore, this post-show introduction for Winter 2021-2022 will explain the theme, clothing, venue, artist Peter Doig, and other aspects, allowing everyone to have a thorough understanding of Kim Jones’ presentation this season.
擁有高級訂製服級別的 Dior 男裝日常服
Presented today, Kim Jones directly named it Dior Savoir Faire. Derived from the French term Savoir Faire, which essentially means know-how in English, it is commonly used in the fashion industry to express a brand’s exquisite craftsmanship. With such straightforward terminology, it is likely that today’s presentation will be related to the Haute Couture craftsmanship that founder Christian Dior has been most proud of since the establishment of Dior.
After the fashion show opened, the first look to hit the runway directly expressed the theme of the show: models wore a dazzling embroidered coat jointly created by Dior Atelier and the renowned Parisian haute couture workshop Vermont Paris, fully embodying Kim Jones’ vision for the season; a more thoughtful touch was seen in the final look, where a model wore a luxurious light purple faux fur coat, creating a direct “head-to-toe echo”.
Of course, among the 46 looks, in addition to the opening and closing looks mentioned above, the other 44 looks are also worth noting. A series of winter clothing commonly seen in Dior Men, such as wool knitwear, full-length coats, and military-inspired multi-pocket bomber jackets, are also included in the collection. With some variations in accessories, details, and tailoring, it further highlights the style of “fashionable everyday wear.”
If you want to be critical of the disappointments of this season, perhaps many “shoe fanatics” may be disappointed that Dior’s footwear department designer Thibo only brought 3 new shoes this season, and it seems that none of them can compare to Air Dior as a groundbreaking fashion item (only Chelsea-style B28 boots and more unique soldier boots appeared at the show); but the truth is, the Winter 2021 collection will include two more shoes, namely the new Dior Oblique embroidered B23 high-top canvas shoes and the IT42 military boots with new embroidered prints, although neither of them appeared at the fashion show). However, there is no need to worry too much about this, as the creative Thibo may bring other new designs one by one at a later time.
Winter 2021 或成為 Dior 首個高級訂製服男裝系列
Undeniably, when it comes to haute couture collections this season, the most talked-about topic may be the personal first FENDI haute couture collection brought by Kim Jones a week later. However, this extraordinary designer chose to first showcase his pursuit of haute couture fashion in the Dior menswear collection – especially when he is in a brand that best represents Haute Couture in fashion history.
Regarding the opening outfit, the black sequined coat was inspired by the design brain behind Mr. Christian Dior in the 1960s, and the classic work Rosella Dress by Dior’s legendary designer Marc Bohan. The embroidery ornaments on the white silk dress were extracted as inspiration and reinterpreted with Vermont Paris to create the embroidery ornaments seen this season, perfectly added to this black cashmere coat. To create this highly dramatic piece, Kim Jones spent a lot of time referencing the Dior Haute Couture collection, searching for details and designs that could be applied to this season’s menswear. He even personally reviewed the Rosella Dress from the Christian Dior family’s grand mansion, Villa les Rhumbs, ultimately using exquisite faceted crystals, metallic threads, and metal beads for production, all handcrafted by Vermont Paris using long-stitching techniques.
On the other hand, this coat, made entirely with haute couture techniques, is not just an ordinary cashmere coat. The tailcoat design of this coat was actually created by Kim Jones in the early stages of his tenure as the creative director of Dior menswear. Only a few employees within the brand have this design, until this season when Kim Jones selected it to be made into this piece of art. Furthermore, this tailcoat is inspired by the inauguration ceremony of the French Academy of Fine Arts, which has a history of over a hundred years. All artists nominated to become members of the academy wear the inauguration robe designed for the ceremony, symbolizing not only the dignified design of men’s formal wear, but also the great tradition of French art history.
Peter Doig 的參與，是真正結合時尚與藝術的創作
If you have been following the earlier live articles, you should already have a good idea of Peter Doig’s background and status as a painting artist (if you still don’t understand, you can first go to here to read more). The article has been emphasizing Peter Doig’s position and achievements in the contemporary art world from the beginning to here, but I believe no one can estimate that he can bring such rich creations to this series and this fashion show. It’s not just about applying past works to Kim Jones’ designs, but truly stepping into the series and even the brand history of Dior.
Perhaps starting with the current fashion show, Peter Doig, in the past 5 months of collaboration, not only revisited his own work, but also spent some time studying the collection of Christian Dior, just like Kim Jones. In an interview, he mentioned that he was reading and drawing while going through these collections. From a collection of Christian Dior, he found a photo of Christian Dior attending a dance party in the 1940s, wearing a lion costume that night. Peter Doig found this scene interesting and turned it into a painting. However, Peter Doig shared that he was just having fun at the time and didn’t think about creating anything for the series, but in the end, this interesting painting was used by Dior as the background for the invitation.
In terms of the exhibition, the all-blue set design and multiple giant three-dimensional wooden boxes are also creations by Peter Doig. The blue hue of the venue is inspired by Peter Doig’s famous work “Milky Way,” which is also used as the theme artwork for the fashion show. The twinkling stars in the painting are also used as the pattern design for one of the coats.
On the other hand, the giant three-dimensional wooden boxes at the exhibition were inspired by Peter Doig’s painting “Speaker/Girl” (2015), assembled and produced by the famous production unit villa eugénie, and placed inside the wooden boxes were sound systems paired with special sound effects produced by Dior’s long-term music team, famous DJ Honey Di Jon, and Klose One. Peter Doig also participated in the production of original sound sources. Such a serious and rich creation for Winter 2021-2022 is believed to be the most representative one in the past three years.
However, Peter Doig’s involvement is not just that. This time, being able to collaborate with Dior and Kim Jones, not only because of his artistic charm attracting Kim Jones, but also influenced by the master milliner Stephen Jones, who became the link for Kim Jones to get to know Peter Doig. In this Winter 2021-2022 collection, some of the hat designs were also created by Peter Doig and Stephen Jones together. In fact, the two have been old friends since their early days. Peter Doig and Stephen Jones, who met during their school days, are alumni of the renowned fashion school Central Saint Martins. The former studied painting while the latter studied women’s fashion design, and they have been friends for over forty years. In the interview, Stephen Jones revealed that back in college, Peter Doig and some of his “fashion friends” would often go out together, but he never imagined that Peter Doig would suddenly break away and embark on a career as an artist, becoming an internationally renowned contemporary art master. Therefore, this collaboration can definitely be described as a reunion of “old friends” with a deep understanding and emotional connection.
In order to make this collaboration more memorable, the hat master who has worked with former British royal members such as the Queen of England, Princess Diana, Meghan Markle; music superstars like Duran Duran, Boy George, Sting; and some of the most important fashion masters like John Galliano, Rei Kawakubo, Vivienne Westwood, and the current Creative Director of Dior Women’s and Haute Couture Maria Grazia Chiuri, also extensively reviewed Peter Doig’s past works. They discovered that hats play a very important role in his works, even as Peter Doig pointed out, “having historical symbolic significance.” Therefore, they decided that noble hats must be used to highlight all the styles, from knits to wool materials, everything is included.
應用於服飾當中的 Peter Doig 藝術
In this series, what is most impressive is the wide spectrum of colors used throughout the collection, from dark purple at the beginning to bright red and orange in the middle, and then to indigo and light purple towards the end, creating a very eye-catching finale, allowing the audience to feel the energy. The camouflage patterns seen in looks 5, 10, and 19 are also a highlight of the collection, with craftsmen selecting specific details from Peter Doig’s paintings for Kim Jones – such as a fallen leaf – and expanding them with ink brush strokes to create a new camouflage pattern, which is then applied to different clothing and Saddle Bags.
On the other hand, Peter Doig himself also reviewed his past works, understanding the details of clothing and paintings that had appeared before, and ultimately decided to use etching instead of painting techniques, allowing the clothing to interpret a craftsmanship-level painted effect like embroidery; especially when discussing the mohair sweater in watercolor, the effect is even more pronounced.
Arriving here, you might ask: “Both sides have been browsing through their own collections, so which classic paintings by Peter Doig did the Winter 2021-2022 series reference?” Kim Jones revealed after the show that he and the entire team had looked through Peter Doig’s past paintings on subjects such as men, skiers, ice hockey players, and night skies. In terms of the artwork, certain looks were directly inspired by some of Peter Doig’s classic pieces, including “Spearfishing,” “Two Trees,” “Rain in the Port of Spain,” and more.
Peter Doig also re-drew the lion in “Rain in the Port of Spain,” painting it on a round-brimmed hard hat, while craftsmen wove the lion pattern from the original work onto the large blanket held by model in look 15. Speaking of lions, as mentioned above, Peter Doig referenced the lion tuxedo designed by the late fashion legend Pierre Cardin for Christian Dior in 1949, reimagining it as a painting and using it as an invitation cover, but Peter Doig also hand-drew the lion pattern on a hat; at the same time, Peter Doig also designed another animal pattern for Dior – Christian Dior’s beloved dog Bobby.
It is undeniable that since taking office, Kim Jones has brought a disruptive level of influence to Dior and even the fashion industry. Especially after exploring and understanding for multiple seasons, Kim Jones this season has clearly demonstrated his fashion philosophy. Looking back at the Winter 2021-2022 collection from start to finish, you will find that Kim Jones uses Dior’s most valuable haute couture craftsmanship as the core, but at the same time, through the fusion of Casual Tailoring marked by modern design minimalism and contemporary art, he reinterprets the symbol of luxurious men’s formalwear, transforming it into Dior’s everyday menswear. The closing remarks of the exhibition, with the phrase “New Art, New Look” as the interpretation of the Winter 2021-2022 collection, not only runs through Dior’s precious history, but also aptly expresses Kim Jones’s design thinking.
Although the first fashion show of the new year still faces the gloom of no audience, Kim Jones managed to bring a surprisingly impressive presentation this season under high pressure. Even he himself changed to blonde hair in the new year, as if to personally respond to the “New Art, New Look” proposition, delivering the most direct conclusion and echoing connection to the presentation.
資料及圖片來源：Courtesy of Dior
