Men At Arms

To understand ceremonial dress and the idea of couture, we talk to Kim Jones about Dior tailoring codes, Peter Doig’s art, and creating the Winter 2021/2022 collection that is equal parts glamour and finesse

- Jonathan Ho

LIKE MEN OF DISTINCTION stepping out a renaissance painting, Kim Jones’ latest Dior Winter 2021-2022 with Peter Doig is a kaleidescope of military tailoring tradition and the aesthetic sensibility of a Scottish painter. In fact, cross-cultural referencing has been so emblematic of Kim Jones’s curatorial ethos that these art-collaboration collections could probably pay for themselves as art to be displayed rather than something to be worn. Doig’s 2013 Spearfishing, a canvas with two men in a boat, one dripped in orange and the other in yellow readily calls to mind Jones’ muse. Doig’s lion from Rain in the Port of Spain recalling an outfit Monsieur Dior himself wore to a ball, itself made by Pierre Cardin seemed to be the ultimate meta-head nod that echoed through three generations of couture heritage.

Opening with a glit embroidered coat like those worn by Royal Officers attending court with their Monarch, Jones adopted the traditional ceremonial coat tails. These are an aesthetic detail more readily found on modern men’s formal wear than haute couture, thus the crossover from male bespoke to the work of Dior’s embroidery ateliers is a living tradition perpetuated – translating archival pieces of Doig’s painintgs into prints and embroidery. With Dior Men Winter 2021-2022, tailoring is sophisticated albeit in brighter hues; departing from, yet recalling the sort of military regalia that has informed menswear for centuries. What Jones has done via Doig is modernise a historic era and made it sartorially relevant in an age of limited attention and instant gratification.