In recent years, Dior’s push into the world of casual luxury has not gone unnoticed. The high-fashion label’s foray into sneakers, while not ground-breaking, was met with widespread acclaim. Throw in a few Nike collaborations that garnered worldwide interest, and you will start to notice a pattern from the Kim Jones-led powerhouse. Now, the brand is going one step further, straying from conventional collaborations and turning to Massimo Osti’s much-loved streetwear brand, Stone Island.
The two fashion icons have unveiled a new Dior x Stone Island capsule collection that is more than comfortable riding the fence. With no foot firmly in either party, the collection manages to pull influences from both Dior’s Parisian haute couture heritage and Stone Island’s Northern Italian functional detailing. The result is a series of releases that feel luxurious by nature but utilitarian by design.
“There is a meeting of Monsieur Dior and Massimo Osti’s work for Stone Island in this collection,” Dior creative director Kim Jones said. “It Is the coming together of ‘obsessives’. They might have people from opposite ends of the fashion spectrum, from a haute couture vision to that of military functionality, yet I think they’d recognised something in each other and in what they achieved through clothing. Here, in the coming together of contrasting traditions, there’s a new kind of clothing alchemy.”
Key to the creative direction of the new collection was the use of silk as a material base. While it might seem a little over the top on the surface, the fabric is regularly used in military clothing production due to its ability to adapt to traditional garment dying techniques. It’s here that you really appreciate the Stone Island influence. Across the collection, we see a series of the brand’s most iconic pieces reimagined, most notably with the Field Jacket in Raso Gommato from Spring-Summer 1988, which has had its rubber and cotton material base replaced with cotton silk and embossed leather.
Similarly, there are touches of Dior classic tailoring thrown in for good measure. The Maison’s unique double pleat motif appears across the collection, with Jones revealing the designs primarily referenced Dior’s Spring-Summer 1952 haute couture collection. Of course, embroidery also makes an appearance within the capsule, albeit in an entirely new way. For the first time ever, Dior and Stone Island have employed a garment-dye embroidery technique, using examples from the haute couture archive, from Autumn-Winter 1955 and Spring-Summer 2013, respectively.
Going back to Dior’s recent footwear collaborative approach, the new Stone Island capsule also introduces a number of new shoes to the mix. Classic derby and boots cop a healthy dose of Dior DNA through the use of traditional construction elements, while the sneaker borrows much of its design influence from Stone Island.
Somewhat remarkably, the new collection manages to capture both brands at very different points on the fashion spectrum, and it does so with consummate ease. Even the icon Stone Island compass rose has been overlayed with Dior’s cannage design to create a true blending of worlds, and it must be said, it just looks right. The new Dior x Stone Island capsule collection is available in-store and at the official Dior online boutique.
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