All under one roof raving was Kris Van Assche’s starting point for his triumphant fall/winter 17 vision of the Dior Homme man. Or maybe, a Mark Leckey-esque Dior Made Me Hardcore journey through the teen tribes and party kids who’ve got the world in the motion and Europe’s dance floors at their feet.
New wavers, ravers, and romantic punk rockers formed his army. Van Assche drew inspiration from rose-tinted memories of the gabber scene that rocked the Dutch and Belgian youth in the mid-90s (imagine if those kids were all dressed in Dior!). Celebrating 10 years at Dior Homme, Van Assche’s world gets more deeply entwined with Dior’s history each season. For fall/winter 17, this meant mixing in those subcultural worlds of his youth with stand-out, electric tailoring. He’s succeeded in bringing the street together with Savile Row, unifying different concepts of tribal dressing.
“Among the multiple and sometimes paradoxical inspirations in my latest collection, the gabber scene is one of the subcultures that I wanted to highlight,” Kris explains. “It’s a hardcore culture that is built around techno music and dancing at rave parties. It is a highly physical dance, involving very rapid responses to saturated bass rhythms. The lower half of the body is moving, sometimes quite frenetically, while the top half remains more controlled, echoing those looks in the collection in which loose pants are worn with more fitted jackets.”
Which is exactly what this video — shot backstage after the show — highlights. Soundtracked by a wild, thumping gabber beat, it focuses on the collection’s manic movement, ecstatic dancing, and musical escapism.
Credits
Text Felix Petty
Styling Mauricio Nardi
Hair Anthony Turner
Make up Lynsey Alexander