Prior to Kim Jones’ latest menswear collection for Dior, there were whispers of a spectacular show set. After all, his tenure so far has seen him conjure a series of dramatic backdrops – from a painstaking recreation of Paris’ Alexandre-III bridge to a constructed countryside garden planted with over 9,000 real wildflowers (he even lit up Giza Pyramids with a laser-and-light show as mise en scène for his Pre-Fall 2023 show in Egypt in 2022).
And there was even more reason for anticipation. As the metal invitations for the show – embossed with a number five – suggested, it was Jones’ fifth anniversary at the house, the collection itself a celebration of the landmark. The show’s location was also new, Paris’ École Militaire, where Dior had constructed a vast grey box for the occasion in the grounds of the 18th-century military college (to add to the scene, the Eiffel Tower loomed tall behind). On entry, though, there was initially little to see – the runway a stark, expansive metal grid, along which attendees watched on from blocks of raised seating.
