Dior Homme S/S 2017

Mood board: Flashes of New Wave and a sportif élan are at the core of everything Kris van Assche does. During his nine-year tenure at Dior, he has created a language that is always athletic in its approach to formal tailoring and modern with its play on traditional craftsmanship techniques. For S/S, Assche focused on his formative years in a collection that embodied ‘a remix of shared boyhood memories.’ The textile suggested clothes that might have been once lost or loved – pinstripes were interrupted and frayed, knits were scarred and houndstooth blurred. Japanese artist Toru Kamei’s arcane floral paintings appeared as patches on sleeveless shirts and slim trousers, as if markings of a misspent youth.
Best in show: Assche talked backstage about a cocktail of style tribes he explored growing up in rural Belgium. Punk, New Wave and New Romanticism have each influenced this season’s playful polish. The silhouette is more relaxed and richly offhand; new proportions for suiting such as jogging or wide-legged trousers with work-wear pocket detailing were paired with smart two-button jackets.
Scene setting: The attitude of Haçienda youth pumped throughout the industrial space at the Tennis Club de Paris. Guests were seated around a sprawling mass of rollercoaster tracks, festooned with coloured lights in a set that was said to be a direct replica of a ride that once stood at Sinksenfoor Antwerp – a traditional Belgian fairground.
INFORMATION
Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
London based writer Dal Chodha is editor-in-chief of Archivist Addendum — a publishing project that explores the gap between fashion editorial and academe. He writes for various international titles and journals on fashion, art and culture and is a contributing editor at Wallpaper*. Chodha has been working in academic institutions for more than a decade and is Stage 1 Leader of the BA Fashion Communication and Promotion course at Central Saint Martins. In 2020 he published his first book SHOW NOTES, an original hybrid of journalism, poetry and provocation.
-
In Shanghai, Hermès conjures a ‘cosmopolitan explorer’ for its one-off show on the Huangpu River
Nadège Vanhée, artistic director of Hermès’ womenswear collections, presented ‘The Second Chapter’ of her A/W 2025 collection earlier this evening (13 June 2025) against the futuristic skyline of Shanghai
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
It was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
Peugeot brings back a classic performance badge for the electric era: meet the E-208 GTi
Peugeot has unveiled the new E-208 GTi, a performance EV designed to hark back to a golden age of compact sports cars
-
Donna Trope celebrates the power of the Polaroid in Paris
‘Polaroids used to be my rejects, and now they are my holy grail,’ says the beauty photographer, as she shows rarely seen images in a Paris exhibition
-
Summer games, from pétanque to pool floats, get a fashionable spin
From a luxurious pétanque set to pool floats and playing cards, summer games and toys from the world’s best-known fashion houses
-
‘Modern beauty’: Pieter Mulier on his new vision for Alaïa
As creative director of Alaïa, Belgian designer Pieter Mulier honours the timeless vision of the maison’s founder while rewriting the past anew. Here, speaking to Jack Moss, he tells the story behind his first year at the house
-
Palace unites with Rapha to celebrate inaugural Tour de France Femmes
Marking the first time women will compete in the historic cycling race since the late 1980s, this new collaboration sees Palace Skateboards and Rapha create uniforms for both on and off the bike – including an ‘outlandish’ pair of Crocs
-
Mariella Bettineschi’s feminist artworks survey guests at Dior A/W 2022 show
As guests gathered at Dior’s A/W 2022 womenswear show venue in Paris, sets of duplicated eyes stared down at them from the artworks of Mariella Bettineschi
-
Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022: Chanel to Miu Miu
In this extended report, Wallpaper* updates you live from Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022 shows, with rolling coverage as runway events unfold
-
Scene-stealing runway sets from A/W 2022 menswear shows
A Kubrickian space odyssey at Prada; a recreation of the Pont Alexandre III in Paris at Dior; and colourful, artist-created flags at Loewe: explore the best runway sets from the A/W 2022 menswear shows
-
Dior recreates Paris bridge, Pont Alexandre III, for A/W 2022 show
Dior recreated Paris’ landmark bridge, Pont Alexandre III, for its A/W 2022 menswear show, which took place on 21 January 2022, the date of Christian Dior’s birthday