There is a lot of talk nowadays about the future applications of AI and how humanoid robots will radically transform our lives in the years to come.
It was only natural then to see Kim Jones, former creative director at Louis Vuitton and appointed Dior's menswear director in March, moving from robots and sci-fi for his Dior Men Pre-Fall 2019 collection, showcased on Friday in Tokyo.
Robots have actually been a great - and at times almost too obvious - fashion inspiration: their sculpted shiny and perfect bodies inspired visionary designers à la Thierry Mugler to alter, morph and manipulate the female silhouette, coming up with armour-like pieces, while other fashion houses explored the possibilities offered by iconic sci-fi movies and films that featured androids and cyborgs, from Metropolis's robotic Maria to Blade Runner's Rachel.
At Dior the sci-fi inspiration started from the lavishly futuristic set dominated by a giant gynoid, almost a futuristic erotic goddess, a 12-metre high aluminum sculpture by Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama, watching the male models walking down the laser-lit runway.
She was an obvious tribute to Fritz Lang 's Metropolis and a reference to the architectural space where the event was taking place in Tokyo Bay - a reclaimed land known as "Metropolis", located between the Sumida and Arakawa river.
The set was actually no mean feat as the gynoid weighted over 9,000Kg and works to assemble it began in mid-September.
The main inspirations for the sculpture were 1980s illustrations by Sorayama, and the artist also reinvented for the occasion the Dior logo and provided Jones with some of his illustrations of sexy robots and robotic dinosaurs to be used as prints.
Jones hopes that this link with Sorayama will inspire consumers to rediscover the connection between Dior himself and artists (the couturier was indeed a gallerist before entering the fashion world...), but, rather than pointing at art, Sorayama's airbrushed robots ended up conjuring erotic dreams of mechanical sex.
The artist's influence also extended to a special-edition metallic saddle bag (only 10 available), while other collaborative products seen on the runways included the belt buckles by Matthew Williams of Alyx and futuristic jewellery recreating chips and metallic robot components by Korean-American designer Yoon Ahn.
The collection was a balance between tailoring and streetwear: the show opened with a grey turtleneck sweater that featured robot-like details suspended between Star Wars and Tron and a logo designed by Sorayama, matched with gray trousers and metallic silver boots.
The suits that followed subtly referenced Japan with their single-button jackets with cross-over closure calling to mind the structure of kimonos, while the final black coats were reminiscent of karate uniforms. In between there were plenty of metallic greys and blues and iridescent suits that wouldn't look out of place at a rave party.
Jones also borrowed some elements from the fashion house archive and from womenswear - houndstooth, animal print and the colour pink were taken from the '50s, reinvented in a futuristic key and applied to the male wardrobe.
Pink worked particularly well in the cherry blossom print combined with illustrations of Sorayama's robots on a shirt matched with knee-length shorts.
There were some interesting surface elaborations as well in the collection: black designs were metallised and transformed into iridescent pieces, one jacket seemed to have black marks along one lapel and along its hem as if it had just come out of a printing press (a trick used by Miuccia Prada in some of her latest collections) while a fading lace-like effect was laser-etched onto bomber jackets.
The least intriguing and innovative pieces were instead the ones reminiscent of space suits or aviation uniforms and that also included some hints at workwear (the asymmetrical blazers in this section were actually a welcome variation from the usual minitary jumpers).
Accessories comprised silver boots and bags, steel baseball caps by Stephen Jones and pockets designed to be attached onto existing bags.
Jones succeeded pretty well in detaching Dior's menswear collection from its skinny silhouette, while suggesting designs that also women may want to wear.
The other winning element in this collection was a balance between trendy pieces for fashionistas like monogrammed bags and shirts and more elegant and timeless pieces like couture tailored coats with asymmetrical fastenings.
Dior's show was the second one that took place this past week in Tokyo, after Valentino's Pre-Fall 19 runway. Both houses connected the show with commercial events, in Dior's case the runway was anticipated by a pop-up store on Thursday evening. A well-established and vibrant market for luxury and an attractive holiday destination for consumers from all over Asia and China in particular, Japan is currently considered as the ideal place to experiment with unique shows that tie in with offline shopping opportunity as online luxury sales are not so developed in Japan.
And while opting for Japan as the ideal place where to hold a runway show before Christmas was a successful business choice, there was a faux pas committed by Jones: Juun J turned to Sorayama in his A/W 2016-17, coming up with hand-painted gynoids and robotic disonarus on the backs of shearling coats and jackets. Yes, Sorayama's sexy robots may look irrestistibly attractive and fashionable, but reusing the same artist and robot theme after such as a short time (but coming up with better products thanks to a larger and more solid infrastructure...) may mean we have finished the ideas or are too lazy to look for other options and alternatives. Or maybe this means that contemporary fashion is just a large global factory of replicant designers.
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