SOUND THE GRAIL KLAXON! A Dior x Cactus Jack collaboration is coming… tomorrow! Yes, my dears, you can believe your eyes. For Dior Men’s Summer 2022 collection, Kim Jones, the house’s Artistic Director, has tapped recent i-D cover star Travis Scott as his latest collaborator, making for the first full Dior collection ever created with a musician.
As groundbreaking an announcement as it may seem, it’s one that makes perfect sense. Kim, for one thing, is one of fashion’s best-known melomaniacs, counting some of the music world’s greatest contemporary visionaries among his inner circle. Among them, natch, is Travis Scott, who, as you’ll no doubt remember, made a starring appearance in the campaign for Kim’s viral Air Dior capsule.
The Astroworld artist’s fashion credentials extend much further than that, though. As the founder and CEO of record label, creative collective and streetstyle purveyor Cactus Jack, he’s minted collabs with some of the chicest fashion players around, including DSM, Byredo, Nike and, well, us! He was also seen flexing his fashion muscle just this week, fronting Bottega Veneta’s latest campaign.
Of course, the announcement of the partnership follows in the wake of a series of blockbuster pairings that have swept the fashion industry over the past few months. Perhaps most notably, there’s Kering stablemates Gucci and Balenciaga’s mutual hacking, and then there was the reveal of Dior Men’s co-branded capsule with sacai, a hero of the Japanese avant-garde, early last week (lets we forget, there was also i-D’s very own collaboration with Cactus Jack).
While big-name collaborations may have become something of a modus operandi for fashion houses what has always set Kim Jones’ apart from the crowd is the authenticity, curiosity, and genuine admiration with he’s approached them. As Stephen Jones, Dior’s go-to milliner since 1996, previously told us, “[Kim] knows what he likes but he’s fascinated by other people’s work, too, which is why he collaborates with other artists,” making his approach far more profound than the cynical co-branding exercises we see so many of today.
While we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out exactly how this meeting of two of the most stylish minds will pan out, if Kim and Travis’ respective track records are anything to go by, it’ll be pure fire. Don’t just sit there twiddling your thumbs till then, though: read our cover interview with Travis and our oral history of Kim in the meantime!