It has been a year, people. One long year, in which I, like countless others, have waited with bated breath for Dior’s new creative director.
We should have guessed. Several names were bandied about – Marc Jacobs for many was seen to be the only option and for a while, I for one favoured (in my dream world) Luella Bartley making a return to design.
I did not for even a second suppose Raf Simons would fill those shoes; in hindsight however I wonder why.
Dior as a design house has had a long and varied past, always with the aim of producing modern clothes for the classic woman. However after Galliano’s dismissal it seemed to be the natural and perhaps the only option to continue the opulent showman like which began to define Dior. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Simons in his previous work promotes a simpler aesthetic which seems a return to the Dior of yesteryear. His chief designs have been in the menswear field, which include his own self-entitled line.
So what can we expect from Simons in the upcoming months? Tailoring, Tailoring, Tailoring- for one! He has only designed womenswear for Jil Sanders and I’m sure he will take elements of that aesthetic with him, but as always with design motivated designers take it somewhere new. Simons, himself has given hints of this: “I haven’t been in the archives yet but for me the strongest impact is in the first 10 years of Dior, and how to link that to the 21st Century.” Expect the wearable and highly covetable. Other design aspects will include from his past history, pops of colour and the ability to experiment with classic pieces such as the plastic carrier bag and the beanie. With his capacity to sell clothes, one cannot be in doubt about his design abilities.
What else? Simons stated when his position was announced, that: “the name Dior symbolizes the ultimate in elegance and refinement. I am truly humbled and honoured to become Artistic Director of the most celebrated French house in the world.” Therefore expect company rebranding. Think Celine under Phoebe Philo, Dior will be under Raf Simons. The Dior brand, arguably, has spent the last few years verging on what could be seen as an over-franchised borderline tacky brand, something inappropriate in our straightened times. This and what was becoming an outmoded form of design, blatant haute-couture which seemed to remove the exclusive. Simons will take it back to that ‘elegance and refinement’ which has been sorely lacking.
Cathy Horyn, New York Times Fashion Writer, who incidentally broke the news, has in the past said that Simons’ collections, will: “make everything else, I bet, seem a little contrived, a little clunky, a little silly”. A statement, I feel which could be applied to the original Christian Dior. Personally, I can’t wait.