Witness The Metamorphosis of Man at Dior Men
Review of Dior Fall 2025 Men’s Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Ornate Extravagance, Menswear’s Metamorphosis, Masculine/Feminine
As the First World is determined to take men back to the Stone Age (back to a hard exterior that disguises a depth of emotion), across Milan and now Paris there is a poetic romance that is breaking through, as designers have met a moment of chaos and hardline attitudes with a steadfast determination to pull us back from the brink with an overflow of beauty.
Kim Jones’ contribution to this desire to change course is to overdose us with a softer male demeanour. One which honours the heritage of the house he calls home. Choosing the eighteenth century as his ‘fashion history’ touchpoint, it was this ornate and extravagant period of men’s dressing through to, according to today’s show notes, the “linear and more utilitarian [look of] the nineteenth [century], [where we had] the beginnings of modern menswear” which ran throughout todays collection.
The letter H was on the mind of the creative director as he revealed in his notes “Mr Dior’s Ligne H was in our heads even before going into the archive this season. It has elements that are graphic and angular, which felt eminently transferable into the men’s world”. Whether in Honour, as an Homage, or a link to Heritage the letter can carry many iterations (which was seen in a fun teaser on the @Dior Instagram account as HQ staff were asked what the letter conjured up for them – the most interesting answers were hotel, halloumi, and hacker) but for fall 2025 it was mainly about heritage as Jones admitted to a desire to refocus on Monsieur Dior himself. A spotlight which has only proceeded to shine brighter following Apple TV’s highly praised biopic on the couturier. As part of his creative process Dior would often assign letters to his collections, not simply as a way to code them but the graphic shape would also serve as inspiration for that season’s silhouettes. In the case of the H (from the fall 1954/55 collection) it represented an elongation of the body and a parallel symmetry for fastenings – think double-breasted suits and bib-fronts. And yes while fashion history was a touchpoint, Jones was at pains to reiterate that this was not ‘Historical Fashion’ as he said “ultimately, in this collection we wanted to say something about now”.
The opening look was a coded one as a model descended the only set-piece which graced todays set – a pair of dramatic double staircases which formed a focal centrepiece. Wearing a black satin blindfold it was a nod to ‘Casanova’, the ‘Motif of the Mask’ and the legacy of men as extravagant dressers at a time when it was praised. As per last season this was a merging of both men’s ready-to-wear and couture which explored the ‘metamorphosis of menswear’ from billowing silk blouses and open-neck sweaters, to the trench and opera coat with meticulous attention to detail in the intricate embellishments referred to as ‘a sprinkling of raindrops’ across the shoulders of blazers. The ‘couture’ bows which adorned footwear and the back of opera coats – a silhouette borrowed from the women’s archive – was part of a flow of ideas that upended the concept of masculine to feminine, especially in the way a coat was transformed and worn as a skirt, one of the more directional pieces from Kim Jones in recent seasons and it will be one-to-watch for which newly-crowned ambassador or Hollywood star will be the first to debut the look on the red carpet.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
The figure of Casanova permeates the collection and its presentation in the dual sense of the ‘Ladies’ Man.’ Here, a mix of the masculine and feminine, of the influence of the women’s haute couture and the men’s ready-to-wear, together with the excesses of the eighteenth century, are found in an idea of the extravagant dresser, and the motif of the mask”Kim Jones, Artistic Director, Dior Men
THE WRAP UP
At a time when it is most needed, to witness a major fashion house take the opposite approach to where the zeitgeist is headed is encouraging, as men are now leaning into traditional dressing and the rising fluidity that was breaking through only a few short seasons ago is now relatively forgotten, but for fall 2025 a soft romance permeates. Here’s hoping it will have the desired effect as men choose to take the inspiration of Casanova and return to rediscovering their dual masculine/feminine energy.
