Dior Common Thread

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. 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 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. 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.