Dior Men’s latest collection was a poetic tribute to Yves Saint Laurent and his time at the storied French fashion house.
The range was unveiled Friday during Paris Fashion Week, nearly 65 years after Saint Laurent’s debut Dior collection. The show was narrated by actors Robert Pattinson and Gwendoline Christie, who recited T.S. Eliot’s 1922 poem The Waste Land. Kim Jones, the artistic director of Dior Mens, said the collection was inspired by the concepts of renewal and change, which are key themes in Eliot’s work.
“In this collection, we wanted to look at the regeneration of the house after the death of Mr. Dior, and its rejuvenation with Mr. Saint Laurent – his chosen heir – drawing a parallel in literature, through imagery and themes in The Waste Land,” he said in a press release. “It’s where an old world meets a new one, in change and in flux.”
The Dior Men’s fall/winter 2023 offering is a fusion of traditional and modern; casual and formal; and, most notably, masculine and feminine. Many of the garments were reworked versions of Dior archive designs, like the Saint Laurent sailor top, the off-the-shoulder tailoring of acacias, and the “Passe Partout” coat.
“In counterpoint, startlingly new pieces such as 3D printed shoes and boots, and archetypal sea-faring utilitarian outerwear extend the reach of the house’s savoir-faire to an unprecedented contemporary level,” the presser continued. “Meanwhile bags primarily take on an idea of discretion, elegance, and precision, stripped of extraneous elements with a box of construction in vernis—an echo of Yves Saint Laurent’s striving for modern simplification.”
You can check out some of the looks below and watch the full runway show above.
