See How Dior Men Fall 2020 Brought Couture to Menswear
As was evident by the large crowd that awaited at Place de la Concorde, the Dior Men Fall 2020 show is, alongside Louis Vuitton, one of the hottest tickets during Paris Fashion Week Men's. In just four high-flying seasons, Kim Jones (who happened to last be at Vuitton) has caused a true revolution within the established French house, reimagining the former Dior Homme in far more ways than just the name—and it couldn't be a more exciting time.
By exploring the best of Dior's archives while disrupting established menswear norms, the English artistic director is making his audience love concepts many were previously afraid of embracing. It upsets longstanding principles and proves nothing is off limits in modern menswear. Gone is the reign of the Great Masculine Renunciation—Jones, along with other top designers like Alessandro Michele and Pierpaolo Piccioli, is making a case for a highly expressive masculinity that's impossible to refuse.
The Dior Men Fall 2020 show opens a new decade for the house, and simultaneously, Jones' choices argue for a new chapter in men's wardrobe. "Past, present, couture," proclaims the house of the new collection, perfectly capturing the designer's state of mind—and making a strong statement that couture is the future of menswear. Jones has an impressive talent for adapting tailoring codes to what the new generation really wants, whether these aspirations rest in breaking gender boundaries or embracing the ongoing prevalence of streetwear. This makes his collections all the more successful, with this latest show smartly using couture to display a nonchalant sophistication, feeling as effortless as it is intricate. Detailed, iconoclastic silhouettes create an oeuvre of tailoring that's anything but boring, while aristocratic and punk influences collide in homage to Judy Blame, the British fashion stylist who captivated the world with his mastery of eccentricity in the '80s and beyond.
Accessories oscillated between an array of refined jewelry by Yoon Ahn, velvet opera gloves, zippers to highlight the architecture of the clothes, and an almost military roughness from top to bottom, thanks to a series of large boots and berets recalling uniform codes. The clothes provide a perfect artistic balance for the eclectic accessories, using improbable volumes, pleats, and drapes in homage to couture techniques, in addition to the "Dior Oblique" motif that Jones has made his signature. Altogether, the eccentric detail and refined craft have created a new vision of menswear, as individualistic as couture but imagined in a way that translates to the everyday. Blame would be proud, and it's no wonder the public has fallen in love with Jones' Midas touch.
