"I'm Belgian, we like things a bit dark", said Kris Van Assche backstage after showing his AW17 collection for Dior Homme, flanked by the face of the new campaign, Boy George. If that nod to subcultural music references didn't tease out the designer's thought process for his collection then the thundering Depeche Mode soundtrack and models in narrow black suits and swamping tech-fabric coats certainly did; a youth-centric stomp through all things New Wave and Nu Rave. This was a night in Dior's warehouse; the flooring criss-crossed with tape that read "Hardior".
"It was about the clash of two different worlds, something very Dior Homme, very tailored, skinny sleeves, tight body fit and three quarter length sleeves, all hand stitched and beautifully tailored, and then mixed in with street elements; workwear pants, white socks and sneakers", said Van Assche. Anarchy alongside established rules of suiting, then, and perfectly encapsulated in the milieu backstage; LVMH's Bernard Arnault jostled in the scrum beside a tattooed Boy George in a patchworked suit.
The designer riffed on a black and red motif that's become his signature, with nipped-in, lean proportions on the suit worn with clomping great boots, or trainers covered in straps. This tailoring was then treated to a degree of "trashing"; hardware dotting the chest, contrasting top stitching, a tangle of multicoloured threads across a jacket, the ends left trailing. "Everybody says tailoring is over and that nobody wants to wear it any more and I feel like maybe we just haven't given young guys the right tailoring yet. I want to express a cool vibe while giving them a tailored jacket. It's a search for modern tailoring", said the designer.
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