Dior’s Kris Van Assche took us on an artistic seaside getaway for spring/summer 2015. And although being inspired by the sea is far from new, Van Assche gave a more artful assertion to both strict and relaxed silhouettes, while still maintaining many of Dior’s iconic styles.
Working with a traditional palette true to sailing and the sea, navy pinstripes were seen on suits and French Breton fisherman striped tank tops. Sweaters were layered on top of impossibly crisp oxford shirts with the words “Letter in a bottle” embossed along the collar. It was a subtle touch which drew the eye in closer to look for futher details. Immediatley after, a beautifully cut three-piece suit made its way down the runway with what appeared to be pinstriping, but upon closer inspection turned out to be cursive handwriting.
As fate would have it, Van Assche came upon a letter while researching the Dior archives penned by Monsieur Dior himself. Dior wrote: “Traditions have to be maintained so they can be passed on to future generations. “In troubled times like ours, we must maintain these traditions which are our luxury and the flower of our civilization.” Van Assche loved the words so much he reproduced them as a print on shirts, suits and denim. After the handwriting prints made their appearance, suits paired with slick rain jackets followed, many worn with shrunken sweatshirts as an extra layer almost like a sweater. These came with a bit of font on them, mostly the penned words of Monsieur Dior on the collar with splashes of colour in random patterns.
The accessories at the Dior Homme SS 2015 collection were equally as enthralling, models sported Palladium mirrored Composite 1.0 sunglasses, Dior’s futuristic take on Ray-Ban’s iconic Clubmasters. Other high tech sunglasses, Technologic and So Real (shown during Dior’s womenswear 2015 collections) elevated the traditional Aviator style to a new realm.