Dior Homme: top of the class in tailoring

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Jan 20, 2018

Just when one thought one would drown in a heavy sea of Athleisure, along comes Kris Van Assche and reminds us what a great collection of modern tailoring can look like.

And we’re talking about tailoring that everyone from Monsieur Dior to Robert Pattinson would understand – and wear.
 
Matter of fact, the collection was very clearly based on Dior’s own iconic Bar jacket. The result was a dashing series of elongated jackets, nipped at the waist and flared at the hip in true New Look dimensions. Moreover, Van Assche skillfully played on classy Dior detailing like the extended mini lapels that were interlaced and then buttoned down. Little embroidered strokes of white also accentuated the silhouette in a clever gesture. Add in delicate flap pockets and off-set buttons and the result was the best tailored show on the Continent this season.

“I think with everyone doing fashion streetwear it was about time we concentrated in tailoring again. It just made sense,” said Van Assche, after posing for photos with French heartthrob Pierre Niney and his wife Natasha Andrews.
 
All of this gentlemanly fare looked hip and noble: made in dry wool, spiky Gothic patterns and some rather bold black flock fabric, the same suit that Bella Hadid wore as she entered the show in the Grand Palais through an immense throng of paparazzi, street photographers, fashion freaks and plain old tourists.
 
Van Assche’s sportswear was, however, less spectacular. Nothing terribly wrong but just a tad too formulaic – all a little too posh to be terribly convincing. And this critic was not alone in this judgment.
 
“I liked the tailoring very much; but not really the sportswear,” sniffed Karl Lagerfeld, who appeared with a significant gray sailor's beard, and sat front row with Dior patron and chairman Bernard Arnault.