This season, Kim Jones collaborated with ceramicist Hylton Nel, and the outcome was one of his greatest collections for the home as well as a cool, colorful palette of patterns.
Hard, glazed ceramics don’t seem like a natural source of inspiration for pliable materials in fashion. However, Jones’ astute strategy produced a plethora of amazing ensembles, ranging from the shimmering brown trench coats to the Pearlymen fantasy that began the show.
About 1,200 spectators gathered around the massive set in advance of the performance to view Nel’s sculptures, or replicas that had been magnified thirty times from their original mantlepiece-top proportions to three meters in height. Pussy green in boots; tigers in powder blue; or little dogs perched on a massive red-checked tea cozy.
Nel’s concepts included the cast’s hairstyles as well as the cashmere hoodies and ceramic collars. Peter Philips, the artist of makeup, doing his magic on the young actors’ glossy hair. Everything built to a climax as the group circled the statues while a live rendition of Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting erupted from the speakers. All constructed within the Val-de-Grâce church’s specially created tent.
Based in the small agricultural village of Calitzdorp in the Karoon desert of South Africa, Hylton Nel captures the unvarnished beauty of his homeland and the natural joie de vivre of its inhabitants. Each of the crowing cocks, upright horses, and brisk Springboks that danced around the prints or were stitched into the farm boots some models wore, were clearly depicting these elements.
His vast knowledge of everything from Chinese Tang Dynasty ceramics to Staffordshire pottery from the seventeenth century, and everything in between, amazed me. This brought me to this collection, where I wanted to do something really personal,” Jones said in a message enclosed in a beautifully bound book with images from Nel’s world that was set on each seat.
Nel’s shamans could also be found in a wonderful assortment of ceramic animals that served as buttons or clasps on high-neck waistcoats, or as a woolen figure fastened to miniature saddle bags. And when it began to seem a little too ornate, Jones sent the most immaculate suits and blazers, although paired with some rigid porcelain collars.
The theme of Jones’ collection, “Dior for my real friends,” was likely to make the Dior house a lot of new friends because these were such exquisite garments.
