The relationship between art and fashion has become an inseparable bond over the last 15 years. In the past, a designer might have been passionate about specific artists and tried to channel their palettes and moods into a collection. Then the relationship evolved into collaborations where a fashion house commissioned a contemporary artist to create a print or a motif for a collection or a special accessory (or would obtain permission to use an existing motif).
New parameters have been established in more recent years: smaller brands might now look for younger or lesser-known artists and use a drawing or a painting for a print or an intarsia motif on knitwear. Meanwhile, larger brands can afford not only the permission to use specific artworks as motifs for their clothes and accessories, but may also include real artworks as a backdrop for a runway show and even have the artist sitting in the front row.
In a way, it is a new form of patronage that only more powerful luxury brands can usually afford. Dior is one of those, as demonstrated by the recent men's S/S 25 show that revolved around a collaboration between Kim Jones, Dior menswear designer, and Hylton Nel, the 83-year-old South African ceramicist based on the outskirts of Calitzdorp, in the Klein Karoo region (guests at the show received a booklet of photographs of his creative space taken by Pieter Hugo).
A teaser with K-pop band Tomorrow X Together (Dior's house ambassadors) featured the band members with cute cats and created anticipation for the show that took place yesterday afternoon in Paris.
Nel is known for a variety of ceramic pieces, from vases and pots to figures, and the runway featured six giant, striking sculptures of cats and dogs based on his work.
While Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting" played in the background, the first model walked down the runway carrying one of the original whimsical sculptures that inspired the installation, a hybrid character with the head of a cat and the body of a woman.
The collection wasn’t very conceptual (aside from the trousers incorporating a short apron, maybe…), but it was very Kim Jones with modern tailored silhouettes and plenty of functional jackets and coats in a rather classic palette of browns and greys with some splashes of pale yellow and faded wisteria.
The designer also explored Dior’s archive and deconstructed some of the womenswear designs he found there to create some of the designs for this collection such as the pants with draped wrap closures.
Further archival researches allowed Jones to adapt a 1952 womenswear asymmetrical coat designed by Dior and discover a coat based on an unproduced design sketched by Yves Saint Laurent for Dior (who knows how many sketches of unproduced items may be hiding in the archives of other fashion houses…). The knee-length coats with tiny beads mimicking raindrops aligned with the feminine mood, even though Jones created a juxtaposition by matching the piece with sturdy shoes.
Adventures rather than feminine couture designs inspired the extra-wide shorts matched with boots ideal for hiking. Yet, as Nel is a friend of Kim Jones (who is an art collector and owns many pieces by the master potter), his influence in the collection went beyond the runway set and the dog motif that appeared on the show’s invitation.
Silver studs were indeed used on black suits and derby shoes to recreate Nel’s animal motifs and etchings, which were also turned into badges or pendants for the handbags, or rendered as intarsia on the knitwear and used as motifs for the colored socks. A blue-and-white jacket with floral embroidery also hinted at earthenware and at couture (it took 600 hours of hand beading and embroidery to reproduce the effect).
Some models wore large and prominent detachable collars that spread wide apart. The collars were actually a bold visual statement, they created a distinctive appearance, but the most interesting thing was that they weren’t made of fabric but of glazed ceramics. They were indeed sculptures shaped like scarves, an illusion that fit well with the real/faux dichotomy seen in Prada's men's S/S 25 show as well. Others sported cloche hats designed by Stephen Jones and hand-crocheted by artisans from the Cape Town-based design studio Earth Age, featuring a fringe of ceramic beads.
Last but not least, a sweater, tote bags, and sweatshirts featured the sentence "Dior for my real friends" in Nel's handwriting.
It was a reference to Francis Bacon (Jones is a collector), who once stated, "Champagne for my real friends and real pain for my sham friends," a sentence also included in John Maybury's film about the painter, "Love Is The Devil".
Nel sat in the front row wearing a shirt with one of his dog motifs, his appearance confirming that these art and fashion connections are modern forms of patronage.
In ancient Rome, patrons supported artists and poets, and in return, the creative minds at their service were expected to promote their patrons, enhance their social prestige, and embody theirs ideals. Poets and artists also showed personal loyalty by attending their patrons social events, supporting them in public, and sometimes even acting as companions.
In contemporary times, the dynamic between influential fashion houses and artists mirrors the patronage system: just as the latter was crucial in Roman times for the flourishing of arts and literature, today's collaborations serve as a platform for unveiling artists and their work, while injecting at the same time a sense of novel and desirability in a collection. In some cases in which there is a mutual understanding, respect and admiration, like in the friendship between Jones and Nel, there is also a synergy that enriches both their creative endeavors, rather than a cold exercise in patronage.
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