Dior Homme S/S 2018

Mood board: It has been ten years since Kris van Assche took the reins at Dior Homme after Hedi Slimane. In that decade Slimane went on to transform Saint Laurent into a sexy, pop-rock line and continue his photographic practice. Van Assche put his namesake label on hiatus in 2015 and dedicated himself to Dior Homme full-time. Ever since, he has taken the opportunity to explore the heritage of the house, which for S/S 2018 led him back into the atelier, situated in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. Ribbons printed with its address were worn by the models and made into suiting. 
 
Best in show: The collection explored both the construction and deconstruction of tailoring and proportion. Slim blazers were sculpted in ottoman wool in three different variations of a long summer coat, a backless or sleeveless gilet and a new bias-cut tailcoat. Sport met suit as polo-shirts were spliced with the classic skinny Dior Homme jacket or tacked into wide trousers. A tailored jacket had bomber sleeves. In a season of logo-ed sweats, hoodies were printed with the atelier logo. Isn’t that just the most ironic, Diorific thing? 
 
Team work: Oil paintings by French artist François Bard were printed across shirts and jackets. Bard works in the classicist style and often directly onto textured canvas. He takes inspiration from the perfectly ordinary, painting street-cast people in scenes shaped by what he might have seen in newspapers, TV, films and online that same day. His brooding, photorealist paintings of hooded figures relate to Van Assche’s omnipresent search for the joy in innocence.