Kim Jones takes Dior men to Egypt to set a new bar for destination shows in the post-pandemic period.
Kim Jones knows how to put on a show, and for Dior Men’s Pre-Fall 2023, he took the brand on the road to the oldest members of the seven wonders of the world—The Great Pyramids—in Giza, Egypt. As models emerged like spectral dots on a lit-up strip of a runway on the horizon, the three pyramids successively lit up, their edges outlined in white against the pitch-dark sky.
The collection titled “Celestial” aimed to celebrate a lifelong passion for travel. Jones shared a special connection with the continent, having spent his childhood years in Africa, and is known for his love for globetrotting and staging his designs abroad.
Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the brand, Jones titles the collection “Guided By The Stars” to remember the story about Christian Dior finding the lucky star that convinced him to start his own Haute Couture house. “It was and is part of Dior lore – for both the man and the brand. It was Mr Dior’s tripping over his ‘lucky star’ – a literal object found on the Rue du Faubourg Saint – Honoré – that convinced him his destiny was to start his own haute couture house, a house frequently guided by his belief in astrology,” the brand explains.
As a Dior tradition, A-list guests in attendance included the likes of Robert Pattinson, who took his front-row seat to discover the collection unveiled against the sensational backdrop of the majestic Giza pyramids in Egypt. Dior’s global ambassador, Cha Eun-Woo, was also in attendance as well as Thomas Doherty, Aron Piper, Oh Se-hun, Naomi Campbell, Daniel Kaluuya, and Lewis Hamilton.
“My interest in ancient Egypt is focused on the stars and the sky. It’s the fascination with the ancient world and the parallels with what we look at today; what we inherited from them and what we are still learning from the past. It links to Christian Dior in that sense and by way of his fascination with symbols and superstitions that recur throughout his life and work, one of which is the star. In both the collection and the show, there is an idea of ‘guided by the stars’, and how that can entail in many ways. It’s about how the past shapes the future, or an idea of the future from the past.” – Kim Jones.
For this Fall 2023 collection, Jones used the Great Pyramids as a mystical background and showcased an incredible collection where models turn into “desert warriors pulled from a futuristic universe.”
The collection featured a panoply of Dior grey shades and energetic colours to the palette of the desert, which “ranged from the zesty yellow of a pocketed and zipped jacket to sweaters with an orange pyramid or techno knit Dior Oblique repeat.”
Absorbing the lessons of the past and applying them to the present and future, the collection features techwear, footwear and accessories, mixing functionality and couture.
The fashion pieces in the collection included hoods, rain jackets, hiking boots, and more. Leather goods reinterpreted luxury into a new, organic utility. Footwear flirted with futurism and a touch of a traditional savoir-faire. Tailoring brought together the masculine and the feminine and highlighted how our universe is fully connected.
Let’s check out some of the looks from the show.
