Dudes and their Diors

TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others

#3,859
What’s everyone’s thought on KJ leaving Dior? Were people surprised? Looks like Jonathan Anderson will be designing for both men and women. While it’s not confirmed but seems like he had been anointed. Where do you think KJ will go next? My guess is Burberry. When I saw the black eye mask over the first model and seems like most of the colors are predominantly black, I thought KJ was indicating he was blindsided and mourning for his job loss. But that’s my take.
 
#3,860
Kevinh73 said:
What’s everyone’s thought on KJ leaving Dior? Were people surprised? Looks like Jonathan Anderson will be designing for both men and women. While it’s not confirmed but seems like he had been anointed. Where do you think KJ will go next? My guess is Burberry. When I saw the black eye mask over the first model and seems like most of the colors are predominantly black, I thought KJ was indicating he was blindsided and mourning for his job loss. But that’s my take.
Click to expand...
I'm not surprised, given that Dior has had sales declines for a few quarters now. I loved Kim Jones' last collection for Dior, as well as his first and a few in between. But the few before the final collection were so lackluster in my opinion. The one with the porcelain figures is so weak (the one currently in stores). Some of his collaboration collections were so ugly, like Cactus Jack and a lot of ERL pieces. I find his new KAWS Lunar New Year collection to be too loud and childish. I also found a lot of the Kenny Sharf pieces really ugly.

It's not just weak collections. It's also the buying team for North America, particularly for Toronto. They buy hoodies, sneakers, T-shirts, and anything they think that sells, which is usually very basic stuff. The nicer runway RTW pieces are sometimes available by pre-order only, which is a horrible way of ordering clothing because customers don't necessarily want to commit if the piece after production doesn't look like the one on the runway, does not fit as well, and/or does not look good in real life. I remember when I was interested in their tweed Cannage vest which Toronto didn't even have on the sales floor. I wasn't going to pay $3500+ to pre-order a piece I wasn't sure about. If Dior wants more sales, then maybe they need to take a few risks with their purchasing team so that their boutiques are stocked with more editorial and/or interesting merchandise. Their worry about how some of those pieces may not sell has caused their boutiques to lack any semblance to fashion,and made them resemble any other mall brand store stocked full of hoodies, T-shirts, sweatpants, and whatever seems to sell.

I was considering their quilted Cannage loafers with the DIOR charms-hardware but it never came in my size in Toronto. I was following up for weeks when it was due to arrive, and then I just gave up. Meanwhile, the stores are filled to the brim with B27s, B33s, and a ton of other sneakers that copy Nike in some way.

Dior is my favourite brand, but I no longer find their mens clothes interesting, at least not from my experience in store. I walked away. I bet the merchandise from Kim Jones' last collection will not be available in Toronto unless I preorder, since the feminine silhouettes may not sell to the local demographic.

So it's not just a matter of Kim Jones being a good fit for Dior, it's also how they're selecting pieces from his collections to sell, which dilutes his creative vision. I don't think that the responsibility of decreasing sales should fall only on the creative director, like some media outlets are putting it.

I hope that the declines in the luxury sector are an actual indication that customers want more than the basic logo offerings that most brands are still trying to push to reach sales targets. Then whoever takes over Kim Jones at Dior may actually change the merchandise at the boutiques to reflect more creativity and uniqueness.
 
  • Like
  • Insightful
Reactions: HappySteve, 880, skyqueen and 8 others
#3,861
averagejoe said:
I'm not surprised, given that Dior has had sales declines for a few quarters now. I loved Kim Jones' last collection for Dior, as well as his first and a few in between. But the few before the final collection were so lackluster in my opinion. The one with the porcelain figures is so weak (the one currently in stores). Some of his collaboration collections were so ugly, like Cactus Jack and a lot of ERL pieces. I find his new KAWS Lunar New Year collection to be too loud and childish. I also found a lot of the Kenny Sharf pieces really ugly.

It's not just weak collections. It's also the buying team for North America, particularly for Toronto. They buy hoodies, sneakers, T-shirts, and anything they think that sells, which is usually very basic stuff. The nicer runway RTW pieces are sometimes available by pre-order only, which is a horrible way of ordering clothing because customers don't necessarily want to commit if the piece after production doesn't look like the one on the runway, does not fit as well, and/or does not look good in real life. I remember when I was interested in their tweed Cannage vest which Toronto didn't even have on the sales floor. I wasn't going to pay $3500+ to pre-order a piece I wasn't sure about. If Dior wants more sales, then maybe they need to take a few risks with their purchasing team so that their boutiques are stocked with more editorial and/or interesting merchandise. Their worry about how some of those pieces may not sell has caused their boutiques to lack any semblance to fashion,and made them resemble any other mall brand store stocked full of hoodies, T-shirts, sweatpants, and whatever seems to sell.

I was considering their quilted Cannage loafers with the DIOR charms-hardware but it never came in my size in Toronto. I was following up for weeks when it was due to arrive, and then I just gave up. Meanwhile, the stores are filled to the brim with B27s, B33s, and a ton of other sneakers that copy Nike in some way.

Dior is my favourite brand, but I no longer find their mens clothes interesting, at least not from my experience in store. I walked away. I bet the merchandise from Kim Jones' last collection will not be available in Toronto unless I preorder, since the feminine silhouettes may not sell to the local demographic.

So it's not just a matter of Kim Jones being a good fit for Dior, it's also how they're selecting pieces from his collections to sell, which dilutes his creative vision. I don't think that the responsibility of decreasing sales should fall only on the creative director, like some media outlets are putting it.

I hope that the declines in the luxury sector are an actual indication that customers want more than the basic logo offerings that most brands are still trying to push to reach sales targets. Then whoever takes over Kim Jones at Dior may actually change the merchandise at the boutiques to reflect more creativity and uniqueness.
Click to expand...
The last collection works because KJ no longer worries about sale number and just did what he wanted to do. If he did that from the get go, perhaps people will be more into his clothes/bags. Given what’s going on in luxury sector, I’m glad to see the final demise of logomania. It’s one thing to have a bag with dior dior dior or Lv Lv Lv, but no one is interested in being a walking advertisement for luxury brands anymore. I think designers have become lazy and just slap logo on everything and expect it to sell. Now finally design is taking front and center not logos like it used to be! It is true that boutique buyers just buy things that are safe and they think will sell. It really dilutes designer’s visions and reflect how risk adverse they are. No one is interested in buying expensive Zara-esque fast fashion that gets pumped out every two weeks. If Arnault keeps making designers to push out pre-spring, spring, pre-summer, summer, pre-fall, fall, pre-winter, winter, cruise, and then addition to that many collections, special collaborations, people will get tired of plethora of fast fashion antics at high mark ups and decide to spend money on travel instead. It’s already happening. He just needs to stop. When there is too many products, it all starts to look banal and not luxurious.
 
  • Love
  • Insightful
  • Like
Reactions: 880, averagejoe and J.T.
#3,862
So, as many of you here, I loved the latest show of KJ. I will be in Paris this weekend and will go to Montaigne to search for a SA for next spring season… which will be a challenge to keep until then … I have an S.A. in maison so I think I will ask her to present me with someone who is there since a long time …
 
  • Like
Reactions: averagejoe and 880
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top