Kim Jones' Dior Winter 2024 Embodies the Beauty of the Male Ballerina
The designer’s first time unveiling men’s couture on the runway.
Kim Jones has done it again. The British designer’s Dior Winter 2024 menswear presentation was both functional and poetic. Proving once again that he understands the fundamentals of utilitarian tailoring and clothing that gracefully aligns in movement, the Dior Winter 2024 line was dreamed up by Kim Jones to bring the beauty of the ballet to the forefront.
In an official statement by the designer, Jones highlighted his inspirations, “I had been thinking about the relationship between the ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn and Monsieur Dior. The masculine interpretation of this also involved thinking about her most famous dance partner: Rudolf Nureyev. Nureyev is entwined with my personal history because of my uncle, the photographer Colin Jones. Colin had been a ballet dancer, had a friendship with and photographed the star. The collection,
Or rather collections, are about contrast: the contrasts in the house of Dior in terms of ready-to-wear and haute couture. It’s the difference between onstage and backstage; the life of Nureyev theatrically and in reality. Here it is a meeting of the dancer’s style with that of the Dior archive.” Jones combines the reality and wearability of ready-to-wear with haute couture tropes. Theatricality in haute couture set the tone for the show as orchestral music played in the background as models walked on the stage.
For the first time this season, Jones presents Men’s couture for Dior, introducing a separate entity from the regular RTW. Drawing from the brand’s design archives, the collection explores Saint Laurent’s tailoring that he brought to the house, focusing on his volumes, vents, pleats and necklines that run throughout. The ballet motif comes in the form of the ballet flats, redefining the new masculine iteration that combines Jones’ vision and the art of the dance. Suiting remains exquisite, featuring Jones’ signature extended double-breasted wrap united with a fluid bar waist curve, present from his first collection. From zipped wool jumpsuits to secod-skin ribbed knits, the collection reinvents the idea of simplicity and beauty. In accessories, softly constructed utilitarian bags, such as oversized grained Macrocannage camera and bum bags amplify house codes.
Take a look at the collection above.
