What Emotional Dressing in Menswear Means to Nino Cerruti and Kim Jones

Nino Cerruti speaks in perfect French, save for a slight singing accent that reveals his Italian origins. He says that “to build a future, we must respect the past without being stuck in the memory of things.” This embodies the very elegance of his work. At 90 years old today, the designer represents the excellence of luxury that reigns in his eponymous house. Deeply anchored in his roots, Cerruti took over the family fabric mill founded by his grandfather in Biella, Italy in 1881 and went on to open his own Parisian fashion house in 1967. Since then, he’s pioneered an Italian ease of dressing, marked by the unstructured jacket, with a fluidity of design between menswear and womenswear. 

Kim Jones, the fashion world’s new made-in-Britain virtuoso, asserts an extravagant but wearable vision that goes beyond established genres, bringing an innovative spirit to customize luxury for all. “I don’t like to use fashion for political ends, but to create a joie de vivre,” Jones says. “Fashion makes people feel good about themselves. It has that power.” A world traveler, the designer is known as a street-style connoisseur constantly inspired by streetwear subcultures, using that energy to reimagine tailoring and the modern wardrobe. Recalling his childhood, Jones talks about his hydrogeologist father’s nomadism, and of their long journey that took him from Latin America to Africa before Jones made London his base. Today, at 47, the designer holds the unprecedented double title of artistic director for both Dior Men’s collections in Paris and womenswear at Fendi in Rome. 

Though these two designers come from different times, a common passion drives them: the suit. Passed down from generation to generation, the savoir-faire of tailoring demands a keen eye for the smallest of details, with incredible finishes almost invisible to the naked eye, to become the ultimate in sartorial perfection.

PAMELA GOLBIN: Adolf Loos, the father of architectural modernism, was a “suit-o-phile” and championed the bespoke suit as an archetype of progressive design. What does the suit mean to you? 

NINO CERRUTI: The suit is a very tricky thing. For me, it has its own soul. The same suit has a different mood from one day to another depending on the person who is wearing it. You can write a neverending story about the psychology of clothing. 

PG: You have kept a large collection of your personal wardrobe. 

NC: I have always chosen my clothes with great care. They have accompanied me on the journey that is my life—that’s why I never manage to part with them. It is like having a scrapbook of important moments with the added benefit that they trace an evolution in men’s fashion since the 1950s. 

PG: When speaking about the importance of fabrics, Alexander McQueen commented, “The idea is to use material to transform a human body.” What does that mean to you, Mr. Jones?

KIM JONES: [McQueen] was a friend and mentor, and I saw him drape and cut. For me, fabric has always been the starting point to the collection. When men shop, they first feel a piece of clothing before trying it on. I like working in the luxury sector of menswear because it allows me to use beautifully crafted fabrics. Depending on the materials, tailoring can become quite fluid. At Dior, we’ve been working on draping and on interesting techniques to create a different kind of garment that can be worn not only in a formal way but also in a slightly sportier fashion, which is quite Italian and, in this day and age, more relevant.

PG: As creative director of Dior Men, you are launching a modern tailoring capsule collection.

KJ: Yes, we were looking at tailoring in a different way than the obvious formal wear and wanted a more unstructured silhouette, which to me is more modern. We wanted to create pieces that would speak to a younger generation that wants to dress up but doesn’t know how. The collection has a certain ease with that American sportswear vibe but also the Italian essence of tailoring.

PG: Mr. Cerruti, you have been attributed the invention of the soft unstructured jacket. How did it come about? 

NC: The big change that came was the progressive desire for a more relaxed wardrobe. In the 1960s, jeans became the ultimate competition of the tailoring world. Now, fashion is revisiting its modern interpretation for today’s needs. The relationship between the body and the shape of the silhouette is always evolving. 

KJ: I’m interested in the unconstructed jacket because of the ease and fluidity of it. I just think it’s an easier way to live and you can still look extremely formal and smart and I love that…When I was studying, it was important for me to learn how to pattern cut a jacket properly so that I could then mix it up in a more modern way. 

PG: An important part of the Christian Dior DNA is expressed by the Bar suit, which encapsulated the New Look silhouette from 1947. How has it informed your menswear collections? 

KJ: I wanted to respect the founder of the house and look at his starting points. It’s exciting because Mr. Dior established such modern codes that still look really fresh and exciting for people now. From the Bar suit, we used the button, which is covered and hand-sewn. We also looked at the different linings and studied its construction to then create the men’s version. We did the Oblique suit, a one-button double-breasted jacket that was directly inspired by a double-breasted, multi-buttoned jacket for women from 1948. We liked the idea of simplifying it and streamlining it for the 21st century. I do look at old fabrics a lot because the quality was so much better and we re-make fabrics because I’m a real stickler for detail.

PG: You have done more than 150 collaborations for films and often dress Oscar-winning movie stars from Hollywood. How different was the process making suits for the screen and how did that inform your fashion collections? 

NC: My personal life was always present in my work. I was passionate about cinema but it was also a way to spread my fashion message outside the traditional venues where clothes were sold. At the time, cinema was an even more important part of our lives than it is today. My first fashion show was in 1958 in Rome, and I asked the beautiful Anita Ekberg to wear my clothes. She was just finishing [Federico] Fellini’s La Dolce Vita. And that’s how it began. I never imposed pieces from my own collections but preferred to design the clothes for each specific character to better complement his role. A lot of actors were initially my customers at my boutique in Paris, and later I dressed them for their movies. At that time, the creative fields were more separated and I wanted to bring them together. Fashion, art, cinema—collaborations between fields have now become commonplace but it wasn’t always like that. Kim, I know you are close to Kate Moss. She was in several of my campaigns and we had a very good working relationship even if sometimes she has a very difficult character. I have very fond memories of our shoots in the South of France with Paolo Roversi. She has great style! 

KJ: I will tell her that! 

PG: Mr. Cerruti, you have nurtured several generations of very important designers: Giorgio Armani, Véronique Nichanian at Hermès, as well as Stefano Pilati.

NC: I have been very privileged in my life not only to work for such a long time but also to share my passion with others. There is so much knowledge that comes from experience and that needs to be passed on. Fashion is a beautiful world that offers a lot and can give you great satisfaction. 

KJ: Yes, I think fashion is a community of people. And Mr. Cerruti is right, it is a beautiful industry. So many people around me have been very generous, such as Stefano Pilati, who is one of my favorite designers. Even if fashion has become a huge global economic powerhouse, it’s great to be able to work with people you admire, love, and from whom you can learn. When I see talented young designers, I want to see them do well and help them in any way I can. It’s about giving back what you’ve been given.