In Kim Jones’s shoes

The Dior Common Thread podcast series represents a fascinating new avenue for exploring the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones since his arrival at Dior. Each episode will present a compelling encounter with one of the inspiring figures who have participated in his endlessly original reinventions. In conversation with Ed Tang, each recounts their unique experience and shares their singular vision, providing an immersive new window into the world of Dior Men. In this episode, Tang talks to Simon Parris, a core member of the Kim Jones Studio, a multifaceted studio based in London that provides design, communications and artistic consultancy services to Dior, Fendi and other international clients.  A contemporary Renaissance man, Parris was raised in a creative home; his late father was an art historian and curator who worked for the Tate for 35 years, and his mother was active in bookbinding historic prints and magazine editing. Parris met Kim Jones when growing up in Lewes in Sussex, England, and their lives have been interwoven since. “I guess really we’re closer to being brothers than friends,” he says of their friendship which has been formalized through their work and collaborative projects. His role at the studio is to instigate and facilitate collaborations with external creatives. The multidisciplinary talent was also behind the soundtrack for the recently unveiled ‘California Couture’ Dior men’s Spring 2023 show in Venice Beach.  Straddling the worlds of art, music, fashion and design, Parris has worked in a variety of fields, from non-profits to commercial galleries to orchestrating projects for major and emerging brands. In this intimate exchange that offers a fascinating window into Kim Jones’s inner circle, he discusses subjects ranging from creative influences and collaborations to insights into contemporary culture. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The Dior Common Thread podcast series represents a fascinating new avenue for exploring the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones since his arrival at Dior. Each episode will present a compelling encounter with one of the inspiring figures who have participated in his endlessly original reinventions. In conversation with Ed Tang, each recounts their unique experience and shares their singular vision, providing an immersive new window into the world of Dior Men. The latest guest on the series is Stephen Jones who has served as Artistic Director of Hats at Dior for more than 25 years, a role that includes creating all the headgear for the Dior men’s collections.  Christian Dior himself wrote in his Little Dictionary of Fashion, “A hat is essential to any outfit. It completes it. In a way, a hat is the best way to express your personality,” and here Jones, who crafted his first hat out of a cereal box and glue, fabric from an old blouse belonging to his sister, and a plastic rose, discusses the role of hats in creating an illusion and taking a silhouette to another level. The prolific and highly inventive British milliner grew up in Liverpool and moved to London in the year of punk, 1976, where he enrolled at Central Saint Martins to study fashion. During an internship at the Lachasse couture house in London’s Mayfair district he pursued his passion for hats, training under Shirley Hex, head of the millinery atelier. Jones made his foray into fashion through Zandra Rhodes, going on to work for other legendary designers including Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana, and in this intimate exchange he discusses the privilege over a 40-year career of being able to delve into the heads of the greatest fashion designers of our time. The veteran milliner, who celebrated his 25th anniversary at Dior in 2021, taking a runway bow with Kim Jones at the finale of the Dior men’s Winter 2022-2023 show, gets a thrill from finding out what makes designers tick. “I’m often there right at the beginning of the creative process, so I see it all the way through. And I see it through the ups and the downs, how at the beginning of the design meetings they say ‘pink,’ and then at the end it’s black. Or it’s 14th century and then it becomes Space Age. That whole trajectory of how a design develops is completely fascinating to me,” says Jones. “Sometimes, I don’t understand what the hell’s going on. But if I believe in a designer, I’ll let them take my hand and lead me into a garden of creativity that I don’t know about yet.” Tune into the episode to hear all about the fascinating life story of one of the most revered milliners of our time. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The Dior Common Thread podcast series represents a fascinating new avenue for exploring the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones since his arrival at Dior. Each episode will present a compelling encounter with one of the inspiring figures who have participated in his endlessly original reinventions. In conversation with Ed Tang, each recounts their unique experience and shares their singular vision, providing an immersive new window into the world of Dior Men. In this episode, Tang speaks with ERL’s Eli Russell Linnetz a week after his ‘California Couture’ show with Kim Jones for the Dior men’s Spring 2023 capsule, marking both the House’s debut co-branded collection and the first ever runway show for the young designer.  Melding nods to couture, film, music, art and skateboarding, the pioneering show revisited Dior codes through playful nods to the designer’s own SoCal roots, referencing everything from “Home Alone” to family Christmases in ‘90s America, while padded skater shoes adopt the tones of a California sunset.   Linnetz, who describes watching the show from backstage with Kim Jones, still sees the experience as being a bit surreal. “Some things in life feel like a dream, but also when you put so much work into it there’s a bit of grounding that happens through the process,” he tells Tang.   The designer also shares how he was introduced to Kim Jones through their mutual friend Ronnie Cooke Newhouse. In the space of a 45-second phone call, they had agreed to do the collaboration.   “[Kim] said, “Do you want to do this?” and I said, “Yes.” And I think it was the next week or the week after, the whole Dior team arrived and we designed the collection at my studio,” says Linnetz, revealing that it’s the freest he’s ever felt with any collaboration. “It was a masterclass in how to run a fashion house,” he adds.  It’s been a long time coming for Linnetz, who started out in film but had always dreamt of doing something in fashion. Born and raised in Venice Beach, California, where the Dior show took place, the multifaceted designer after graduating attended film school and soon found himself directing music videos and stage tours for Kanye West. Working for West, Lady Gaga and other high-profile personalities, Linnetz, who had also started shooting fashion campaigns, was yearning to create something for himself. In 2018, he started ERL from nothing. And after turning to Adrian Joffe from Comme des Garçons for advice, “What started out as me making a T-shirt for the opening of Dover Street Market L.A. turned into a whole brand.”  Tune in to hear the young designer talk about his journey and what he learned from working with Kim Jones. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The Dior Common Thread podcast series represents a fascinating new avenue for exploring the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones since his arrival at Dior. Each episode will present a compelling encounter with one of the inspiring figures who have participated in his endlessly original reinventions. In conversation with Ed Tang, each recounts their unique experience and shares their singular vision, providing an immersive new window into the world of Dior Men. Creative daring drives the House’s momentum today more than ever, and the Dior Common Thread podcast series explores the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones. For this episode, Ed Tang speaks with Sammy Jay, the rare book specialist who, over the past two years, has been seeking out treasures for the Artistic Director’s astonishing personal library, which includes a significant number of volumes corresponding to his passions - Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, as well as the Beat Generation.  Sammy Jay hails from Oxford, and studied English literature at Christ Church, one of the prestigious colleges that compose the city’s centuries-old university. He has described literature as an early and enduring obsession. After his degree, and while contemplating his career options, he was perusing the shelves in his late grandfather’s house one day when he came across a first edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, dedicated by the author to Lord Byron. A great fan of the Romantics, like his grandfather, for him was an exceptional find, and the first step in his journey to becoming a book dealer. Jay is a specialist and buyer at Peter Harrington, one of the United Kingdom’s preeminent references in first editions and rarities. Kim Jones first came to him in search of additions to his extensive array of Bloomsbury Group authors, and their relationship took off from there. His library has also melded into his work for Dior, and his literary interests have shaped the subject matter for his menswear collections for the House. The Fall 2022 collection was inspired by Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation, and in conjunction with the show held in London, Jay was invited to curate a special on-site exhibition of books and manuscripts titled ‘Nowhere to go but everywhere’, most belonging to Kim Jones himself. As Ed Tang notes, books are magical and they play a unique role in our lives, a source of private passion and aesthetic objects in their own right. As Jay says, they inspire a ‘gentle madness’ in collectors and have a vast range, from the heights of glamour and intellectual enquiry to the grittiest subject matter. Sammy Jay and Kim Jones have such a fruitful relationship precisely because, even though each has his own areas of interest within the world of books, each also gets inspiration from the other’s tastes.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The Dior Common Thread podcast series represents a fascinating new avenue for exploring the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones since his arrival at Dior. Each episode will present a compelling encounter with one of the inspiring figures who have participated in his endlessly original reinventions. In conversation with Ed Tang, each recounts their unique experience and shares their singular vision, providing an immersive new window into the world of Dior Men. Creative daring drives the House’s momentum today more than ever, and the Dior Common Thread podcast series delves into the collaborations instituted by Kim Jones. For Autumn-Winter 2021-2022, the Artistic Director invited the acclaimed painter Peter Doig to collaborate with him on both the scenography for the runway show and the collection itself, along with a corresponding ski capsule. They worked together closely; the artist’s participation being at the very heart of the design team’s creative processes. The result was one of the most visually enriching partnerships between a designer and a contemporary artist. Peter Doig was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1959. He moved with his family to Trinidad in 1962 and then Canada in 1966. In 1979 he moved to London to study at Wimbledon School of Art, followed by Saint Martin’s School of Art from 1980-83, which he describes as an extraordinary, formative period in his life. He did his MA at Chelsea School of Art from 1989-90. Since 2002, he has been living in Trinidad, where he paints and has raised his three children. He is also a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany. Doig’s work is figurative, taking from childhood memories, photographs, postcards and movie scenes, but his technique and layering of colors and forms is conceptual and defies categorization. American critic Calvin Tomkins described Doig as “a virtuoso of the unpredictable” and his cryptic, dreamlike tableaux, along with his wide-ranging interests and involvement with music, cinema and sport, make him hard to pin down. He has exhibited in the world’s most important museums and his paintings feature in many major public collections. Here, Ed Tang and Peter Doig talk about the intricate, intimate process that resulted from Kim Jones’s invitation. The two established an instinctive creative bond, with the artist being invited to take part in design meetings, share ideas, and witness the many processes which go into building a collection. The forms of a pair of 1950s cinema speakers belonging to him would be integrated into the runway scenography. Additionally, he was inspired by a 1948 photograph of Monsieur Dior himself in a lion costume and decided to base the show invitation on it, as well as incorporating the feline motif in several designs. He discusses the passion he has for skiing, the recent exhibition he had of new works in Zermatt, and the conceptual journey he has had expressing his love for the sport in artistic terms. The artist describes himself as someone without one homeland, having lived in so many places, and he discusses his complex relationships with the places in which he grew up and has called home. He also reminisces about his time as a student in 1980s London and the lifelong friendships he formed with figures in fashion, art and music.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

The Dior Common Thread podcast series represents a fascinating new avenue for exploring the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones since his arrival at Dior. Each episode will present a compelling encounter with one of the inspiring figures who have participated in his endlessly original reinventions. In conversation with Ed Tang, each recounts their unique experience and shares their singular vision, providing an immersive new window into the world of Dior men.     Creative daring drives the House’s momentum today more than ever, and the Dior Common Thread podcast series explores the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones. For his Summer 2020 fashion show, the Artistic Director of the Dior men’s collections invited the artist Daniel Arsham to create scenography featuring fascinating and seemingly disintegrating monolithic sculptures spelling out the word "D.I.O.R". These were later also reproduced for sale in a scaled-down, limited-edition version. A true “archaeologist of the future”, the New York-based Arsham has built his work at the intersection of disciplines, initiating captivating dialogues between architecture and design, history and contemporary art. In this episode of Common Thread, Ed Tang talks to Arsham about working with Dior, his practice, his collaborations and the myriad aspects of his creative life.     Daniel Arsham was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1980, and grew up in Miami, Florida. He won a scholarship to Cooper Union School of Art in New York and was awarded the Gelman Trust Fellowship in 2003. Straight out of art school, Arsham opened an exhibition space called The House in Miami, where he met the Parisian art dealer Emmanuel Perrotin, who has represented him ever since. Continuing this rapid trajectory, he was invited to collaborate with the legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham on stage designs in 2005 and has worked in this vein fairly continuously since. He founded the architecture collaboration Snarkitecture with Alex Mustonen in 2007, and in 2014 established a film company, Films for the Future.     Arsham has worked with numerous fashion and design brands in multiple design and creative capacities, and his work has been exhibited at PS1 and The New Museum in New York, the Contemporary Art Museum Miami, the Athens Biennial, and the Carré d’Art de Nîmes in France, among many others.     Today, Ed Tang and Daniel Arsham get right to the crux of his practice, talking in detail about the wide frames of reference and expansive source material in his worldview and creative output. As an artist who views all his multidisciplinary endeavors as part of his overarching framework of creation, he thinks laterally about the world we live in and the future of creativity, and how it relates to the future of our planet. An avid collector, a trait he shares with Kim Jones, he views his collecting as an extension of his continuous education and understanding of objects and form.   Arsham talks about his ideas around evolution and how he maintained his practice and indeed his working rhythm during lockdown, producing work with his children, preserving his connection to his studio and the life within it. He also delves into the world of painting and his return to this fundamental medium which was his introduction to image making in his art school days. The installation of large-scale canvases has been an enormous challenge, even in this biggest gallery spaces, but it is a challenge which this ultimate Renaissance man cannot but overcome.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Creative daring drives the House’s momentum today more than ever, and the Dior Common Thread podcast series* explores the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones. This first podcast on the series is devoted to Jones himself. Since his arrival in 2018, the Artistic Director of the Dior men's collections has defined ushered in a world in which streetwear moods meet the refinement of flawless tailoring. The perfect symbiosis of urban attitude and elegant allure, his ultra-desirable output reimagines the House’s heritage, honoring and embracing Monsieur Dior’s indelibly inventive spirit.   *The Dior Common Thread podcast series, conceived and produced by Dior, hosted by Ed Tang with research and content consulting by Charlotte Burns.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Creative daring drives the House’s momentum today more than ever, and the Dior Common Thread podcast series* explores the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones. For his debut Dior Summer 2019 show, the Artistic Director of the Dior men's collections commissioned KAWS to reinterpret his iconic “BFF” as a rose-covered statue towering over the runway. The multidisciplinary artist was invited to look back on this monumental homage to Christian Dior, and share his Pop Art influences – among other sources of inspiration – with the listener.   *The Dior Common Thread podcast series, conceived and produced by Dior, hosted by Ed Tang with research and content consulting by Charlotte Burns.  Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.