Oh, all the drama of it.
At the Dior menswear show on Friday afternoon, models ran down the Stairway to Heaven, darted around the border, descended another flight of stairs, and disappeared from view. They arrived from heaven and departed, if not to the Netherworld, then at least to the great unknown.
Was this a grand metaphor for the reality of being a fashion designer in today's day and age? Especially one for LVMH, the world's largest luxury group, which owns Dior?
Probably it was.
For context: The future of Dior men's artistic director Kim Jones has been the subject of endless (and I mean endless) rumors for months, if not years. “Do you think this is his last show?” was a great question handed to reporters by reporters in the front row.
If the apostles of the fashion world went looking for glamorous symbols at this show, they certainly managed to find them. The soundtrack is a song from “McQueen,” a 2018 documentary about Alexander McQueen, the British designer who died by suicide, and has been cited by some in the industry as a cautionary tale about the demands placed on designers.
The first model in the show, and several others arriving later, had ribbons tied over their eyes, as if to say, “Here we are, blocking out the world.” And when Mr. Jones took the bow in the finale, he walked over and hugged Delphine Arnault, Dior's chief executive and daughter of LVMH chief Bernard Arnault.
These acts can mean everything or, of course, nothing at all. LVMH either denied the rumors or did not respond.
As for Mr. Jones, during previews the day before the show, his focus was on the clothes. He wanted to send, he said, “a really pretty message.”
A clean message about clothes, that is. This was Mr. Jones' most dashing distillation of Dior. The model arrived on the ethereal steps in a combined leather jacket. The hourglass-shaped sport coat features shoulders as sharp as a guillotine blade. Vast trousers with the flounces and bop of a couture gown. And the perfect ribbed gray sweater. If he gets lucky one day and wins Mega Millions, this is what this reporter will buy. Like Agnes Martin canvases, these are garments whose essentialism is what makes them so arresting.
“It's all really about structure,” said Jones, who was at Dior for almost seven years. A few hours after the show, he received France's highest distinction, the Legion d'Honneur. (Other non-French fashion designers who have won the award are a royal bunch: Karl Lagerfeld, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani, etc.)
This Dior collection was understated on bags and shoes. The vibrant tuck-ons are so enthralling that designers display them on models like Christmas tree ornaments.
“There’s enough of that on the market,” Jones said. “We really did pure Dior.”
All in all, this collection was an “ahem” throat-release for Mr. Jones. Because of all the rumors swirling around him, fashion has started to feel like a sport without the distractions – social media is all about where the stars are, who's up and who's down. Burbling on social media – it reminds me of when it comes to the actual clothes, he is a master of line and form.
