Dior Men’s is the Cat’s Meow
Review of Dior Spring 2025 Men’s Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
THE THEME
Nature – flora and fauna – often find their way into Kim Jones’ collections for Dior Men’s. If not in the looks or the garments themselves, then in the prints, patterns, or the scene set by the show space. His debut for spring 2019, in what seems like the blink of an eye but was 7 years ago, featured a giant effigy of a signature character called BFF by New York artist Kaws created from pink roses. Spring 2023 was set in a reimagining of Monsieur Christian Dior’s childhood home in Granville, Normandy, where his love of gardening blossomed, with the replica houses inspired by Charleston Farmhouse, owned by artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant of the Bloomsbury group. A group whose work Jones is an avid fan and collector of and often crops up in his work.
For spring 2025, the creative director once again used nature as one of many starting points, but this season, through the lens of ceramicist Hylton Nel. Within the covers of a book on Kim Jones and the artist, which was gifted to attendees, photographs depicting both the artist’s work and his garden communicated where the influences for today’s outing had been plucked – from the explicit to the eccentric. There was also an overwhelming love of cats evident, which Jones said, “These are the cats that spoke to me the most – they meowed to me”. That they did, so much so the designer blew them up to life-size proportions and made them a key focal point for the models to traverse between on the runway.
Jones’s passion for collecting ceramics is down to his love of the medium and the fact that he has “always liked a way of life-shaping them,” according to the book’s opener. It also led to a road trip to visit Hylton Nel in his small farming community, six hours outside of South Africa’s capital Cape Town, where a kinship was formed as Jones observed Nel’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the world of ceramics and became “immediately attached to the work” as told in the book.
As a confessed inveterate (someone who has a long-established interest that is unlikely to change), the Dior Man will never not spend a summer season without a trusty pair of shorts. As spring 2025 is officially short shorts season, Jones obliged with his own, more commercial pairs, sitting just above the knee as they did. Which is about as risqué as a Dior Men pair of shorts is likely to get. The collection also consisted of smart basics, with everything harmonizing through the use of natural tonality. Wide-leg trousers were overlaid with wrap skirts and utility-pocket mini aprons, roomy knitted vests were fastened with twee bird motif buttons, and slash-neck sweaters were embroidered with “Dior, for my real friends,” a more thoughtful approach to the standard slogan-fare we are used to. Wool cocoon coats were embellished at the shoulders and produced a glistening effect as if to mimic a rain shower, and printed scarfs, which appeared stiffened as they too were ceramic, were draped on the shoulders of the models, as another ode to Hylton Nel.
THE BUZZWORDS
Art as a reflection of life, collector’s items, big bag energy
THE SHOWSTOPPER
Look #25
Epitomising the ‘personal’ in this collection, which the creative director noted was a key driver for his spring 2025 outing, here a jacquard sweater depicts his beloved dog Dexter, whose likeness the designer saw in a plate from the ceramicist Hylton Nel, who also inspired the collection.
THE DIRECTION
THE QUOTE
I met the work (of ceramicist Hylton Nel) before the man, But it was through his ceramics that I had a very good idea of who the man was – they are full of life, with his life so very present in them. His soft tones, his colour palette, and what is portrayed – animals, nature, people – are all reflections of his way of being in South Africa, both joyful and melancholy. Including the cats. Hylton Nel’s giant cats on the catwalk are based on ones from my collection…These are the cats that spoke to me the most – they meowed to me.
Kim Jones, creative director, Dior Men
THE WRAP UP
Kim Jones’s spring 2025 collection, which he presented today, took a welcome personal turn. Among the displays were references to a road trip to South Africa—a continent where the designer spent part of his early childhood growing up—to meet ceramicist Hylton Nel. The collection also brought to life the designer’s passion for collecting ceramics through the set design and his innovative experimentation in the form of ‘ceramic-style’ scarves.
The collection, when viewed as a whole, felt more emotive, with nods to Jones’ dog Dexter immortalised on a sweater and a cosy easefulness to all the looks imbued through light tailored draping and either a round or boxiness to the silhouettes.
