The artistic director of the French marque is arguably the most influential menswear designer of our time. We sat down with the British tastemaker to talk about his journey so far
“I can’t,” says Kim Jones. He’s been asked to put into words a famous silhouette created by Yves Saint Laurent, one of his predecessors at the house of Christian Dior, in Paris. “You have to see it to understand it.” He slices the air with his hand, fingers slightly curved to form a serpentine line. “For me,” Jones says, “there’s a fluidity to his line that makes it very, very sensual. I think that’s what’s so appealing about his work.
As a pioneer, in recent years, of wider, long trousers that pool around the ankles, on this occasion, strides were cropped short.“I wanted to do something that was a bit directional and new,” he says, “but my brief to myself, so to speak, is always the same: to make the highest quality menswear that you can. There’s a thread throughout the work. I want continuity. I feel like people go to Dior because you know what you’re getting, so we have to make sure it’s there.