Simply Abu Dhabi Magazine XVIII

2 6 0 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I DIOR HOMME S u m m e r 2 0 1 5 I magine being Kris Van Assche, Creative Director of Dior Homme, and one day stumbling across these hand-penned words in a letter from the great designer himself, deep within the Dior archives. True, the words were written by Monsieur Dior many decades ago, but he may as well have spoken them directly to Van Assche, a man with enormous reverence for the tradition of theHouse of Dior. What a thrill it must have given him, as if the past were reaching out directly to himand guiding his hand. Andyou’llseeDior’sinspirationalquotewrittenallovertheSummer2015collection–literally. Thewords that spoke so profoundly toVanAssche are reproduced across several key pieces, including jackets and jeans, whilst on a smaller scale the signature appears on shirt collars. “Inthiscollection,thedialoguewithChristianDiorhimselfcontinues,”saysMrVanAssche. “Iwas very inspired by a letterwrittenbyMrDior in the fifties that I found in the archive. In ithetalksabouthowvitalitistomaintaintraditions.Itoofeelverystronglyaboutthisandthe text elements in the collection are taken directly from the letter. I wanted a sense of renewal andanideaofChristianDior’sartisticmilieutocomethrough,aswellashisloveofformality and tradition – here the bourgeoismeets the artist, but verymuch in the present day. ” Indeed,thisclashoftheclichés–thatofthebourgeoisbusinessmanandtheidiosyncrasiesof the bohemian artist – is fully embraced in theDiorHomme collection this season. Fittingly, the contrast and combinationof the two could be said tohave come together in the example ofChristianDiorhimself.AwayfromParis,Diorwouldoftengathertogetheranartisticcircle. Itisthisideaofrenewingandrechargingcreativity–aswellasmaintainingtraditions–through the influence of others that is central to the collection.