What's Dior community, it's been a good 2 years since Virgil Alboh became Creative Director at Louis Vuitton Menswear, news you probably all noticed at the time. This was only possible because Kim Jones decided to quit LV. Although he had great success there and even managed to win younger customers for Louis Vuitton again. Jones went from Louis Vuitton directly to Christian Dior, with the same goal of winning the younger generation for the brand. A good two years later, it can be said that Kim Jones has exceeded all expectations at Dior, you can find out why here.
The initial situation
Before Jones took over menswear at Dior, Kris van Asche designed for the legendary French fashion house and his designs were rather simple and sombre, something that did not go down well, at least with younger generations.
Kim Jones, on the other hand, rejuvenates the brand at Louis Vuitton. On the one hand, through his own designs, but also through his collaborations with Fragment and Supreme. The British designer wants to do the same at Dior.
Spring Summer 2019
The success story begins with the first fashion show for the Spring/Summer 2019 collection, which is suddenly very different from the one under Kris van Asche, because the vibes of the collection are much more modern and younger. In itself, the collection is a gigantic success. On top of that, the audience is also causing a stir. ASAP Rocky and Beckham, among others, are in the front row of the show.
The highlight of the collection, for us sneakerheads, was of course the Dior B23 sneaker. The silhouette of the classic Converse with a transparent upper on which the Dior Oblique pattern could be seen. One of the few luxury sneakers that had a resell market at times. Now, of course, it doesn't, anymore and there are also extremely many colourways, almost all of them are 🔥. If you want to have a look, just click on the link.
In any case, the first collection was a huge success and all the ones that followed were as well, but it was not only the core collection that was decisive, but above all the collaborations.
The Collaborations
You all know the Dior x Air Jordan collab, but Jones started collaborating with other brands much earlier. The first was with the streetwear brand Alyx, designed by Matthew Williams. A little fun fact on the side: Williams is now the creative director at Givenchy.
With the collaboration, Jones brings tech and streetwear influences to Dior Pieces that were unimaginable before. But the new influences don't stop with the collaboration. Up Next Daniel Arsham, an American artist, who has also designed sneakers with Adidas. As you can imagine, this collaboration is a huge success.
After Arsham, possibly the least interesting for the sneaker scene follows with Rimowa, together they design suitcases and shoulder bags and, as you can imagine, this is also a huge success.
The Summer of 2020
So now we've arrived at the summer of this year and here come the most exciting collaborations from a sneaker point of view. Of course there is the Air Dior collaboration that we all know, but there was also a collaboration with Shawn Stüssy, the founder of the Streewear brand Stüssy, which we all love so much and which is also dropping a Nike collab this week, about which you can find all the info via this link.
Among other things, this mega pair of the Dior B23 is released together, all in all probably the most underrated collaboration of the year.
Air Dior
But now, of course, to the highlight of Dior. The collaboration with Air Jordan.
Once again, a complete collection was designed together, the highlight of which was of course the Jordan 1. All in all, the collaboration was the highlight of Kim Jones' time at Dior so far, but we are of course excited about what the future holds in store. Lately, there has been a lot of information about a Nike x Dior collab, which you can find in our updates.
However, Kim Jones will not only design for Dior, he has also recently become a designer for the Italian fashion house Fendi, where he is taking over Karl Lagerfeld's legacy and working with Silvia Venturini Fendi. This is only possible because Fendi and Dior both belong to Bernard Arnault's LVMH.
So last but not least, here's a look at the latest. This week Jones presented his latest collection, here is the whole show, of course again in collaboration with another artist, enjoy.