Review of Dior Fall 2022 Men’s Fashion Show
From Paris with Love
By Mark Wittmer
Following a spree of collaborative and thematically referential collections, Kim Jones’ Fall 2022 show for Dior presented a look that belonged firmly to the house, and no one else. Strolling along a set that emulated the banks of the Seine to the airs of mellow cello music, the looks and the men wearing them felt like contemporary reconsiderations of classic Parisian protagonists.
Traditional tailoring runs throughout the collection, but subverted through streetwise details. Classic knits and crinkly quilted jackets also appear, enlivening a classic silhouette with a contemporary sense of personality. Meanwhile, suit pants are given a modern treatment with drawstrings and cuffs.
The color scheme was mutedly minimal and airy, with black, gray, light blue, and off-white. The occasional leopard print peeked its way through, lending a sense of regality to these refined metropolitan promenaders.”
The collection was not without its more overt, smartly modern moments of formal innovation or experimentalism, like the jackets with puffer forearms, the asymmetrical coats with exposed seams, or the transparent shirts hung with ornately beaded tassels or embroidery.
The floral embroidery motif ran throughout the collection, illuminating its restrained color scheme with a delicate and ephemeral breath of freshness. Another indication of the not-quite-traditional consideration of Parisian men’s dressing was the untucked status of the shirts on almost all of the looks, where they cheekily peeked out from under jackets.
Airy and refined, yet moving refinement forward, the collection sees Jones find what has been essential in his work for Dior on its own terms. The show felt like a moment of simplicity and clarity in what has been a breakneck string of collaborations as the designer worked to find what the house’s legacy could mean in the modern day. It turns out that he needed to look no further than Dior’s own home.