Exclusive: Kim Jones On Dior

Having presented one collection for the menswear side of Dior, Kim Jones discusses what’s next

- Teo Van Den Broeke

WHEN KIM JONES STARTED AS THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF MENSWEAR AT LUXURY GOODS JUGGERNAUT LOUIS VUITTON IN 2011, the world of men’s fashion was a very different place. Off-White was but a twinkle in Virgil Abloh’s eye, London Fashion Week Men’s didn’t exist and the menswear market was worth some R218 billion – a pittance compared to the R304 billion valuation it’s expected to achieve in 2021. What’s more, the idea that sportswear could be considered high fashion was laughable. Overpriced boat shoes for millionaire septuagenarians to wear on their yachts? Absolutely. Eleven thousand-rand trainers designed for trendy kids to wear to clubs? Forget it.

It was Jones who helped to change all that. For his first collection for Louis Vuitton, shown in Paris in June 2011, Jones filled his runway with tennis shoes, tube socks, running sneakers, bomber jackets, and backpacks. Sure, the trainers might have been made from French calf leather and, yes, the bomber jackets were cut from the finest alligator, but it was sportswear nonetheless and it was like nothing Louis Vuitton had ever shown before. In the seasons hence, Jones produced a series of collaborations with Nike, he made the trainer category one of the highest performing in the Louis Vuitton portfolio and he even partnered with streetwear behemoth Supreme for his a/w ’17 Louis Vuitton collection. The collaboration caused such a stir that the pop-up stores LV opened to sell the stuff had to close because they became so dangerously overcrowded.