Fashion Revolution: Kim Jones

Kim Jones.

In recent months, this name is among the most talked about, not only for Louis Vuitton’s men collections he designed but, above all, for the insistent rumors that point to him as Versace’s next artistic director who has long been looking for of someone for that position.

Whether this is true or not, what remains undeniable is its talent and the ability to combine high fashion and street style that has made him one of the most influential figures in the remodeling of modern menswear.

Born in London to Danish mother in September 1979, Jones has spent most of his childhood in exotic locations because of the work of his father, an English hydrogeologist. Since he was only 3 months old until adolescence, Kim has never stopped moving, living in the Caribbean, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Botswana, all places that mark deeply the taste and the designer’s aesthetic. Back in England at age 14, he inherits sister magazine’s collection, was fascinated by illustrations, photographs, and found the passion of his life.

So swap the childhood dream of working as a zoologist with that of becoming a designer and joins the prestigious Central Saint Martins, where he developed his potential and becomes protégé Louise Wilson then director of the MA course in fashion, mentor but also friends who, such as David Beckham, Kate Moss, Lily Allen or Alister Mackie, will always support him. When graduating, in 2002, his collection-thesis is so impressive to push John Galliano to buy half of the garments for himself.

Immediately Jones focuses on developing a personal vision and founded his eponymous label, but, at the same time, he cut his teeth working with Uniqlo, Topman, Mulberry, McQ by Alexander McQueen, Hugo Boss and Batters Kanye West, until in 2008, the British label Alfred Dunhill hires him to brighten and modernize its style.

In 2011 comes the big break: Kim is called to replace Paul Helbers as creative director of the Louis Vuitton's men’s ready-to-wear division. Here, in five years, a collection after another, wins critics and audiences thanks to proposals that combine the cosmopolitan mood, traditional cuts and streetwear elements, with a focus on casual clothing.

REVOLUTION

#1 Travel

There is great synergy between Kim Jones and Louis Vuitton, due to the fact that they both have a trip to their own DNA. The designers, in fact, spent childhood traveling with his father, while the luck of the French fashion house started in 1864 with a trunk became legend.

"Louis Vuitton was a very forward-thinking man. He invented the flat-topped trunk that changed people’s lives and the way people travelled and packed" - Kim said, adding - "I’ve always travelled, it’s part of me, but seriously I work for a brand with travel in its DNA and if I can’t bring things back to inspire my team and the consumer, I feel I’m not doing my job properly. All successful men have to travel for work now, whether they like it or not, so you have to understand their lifestyle".

In an attempt to intercept the needs and tastes of this contemporary globetrotter the English guy refuses to stay more than two weeks in a row at the office to spend almost a third of the year on the road, looking for new ideas.

If his debut collection for Louis Vuitton (SS12) is clearly influenced by his childhood in Africa, by the red and blue checkered Masai blankets, as well by his passions for the naturalist photographer Peter Beard and clubbing, the later ones are the fruit of designer’s continued visit to new places.

It is the LV adventurer created by Kim Jones for the modern age: part nomad, part jet-setters.

#2 Streetwear meets luxury

The collections created by Jones for Louis Vuitton are famous for the skill with which the designer synergizes classical and tailored image of a luxury brand with the trip, but also with streetwear.

He and his generation, redesigning fashion creations with non-traditional techniques and elements of everyday, casual, offered a new vocabulary and a new path to the luxury menswear.

"[Street wear] is the modern contemporary menswear" - explains the man - "I’ve always mixed street and high end clothes in my collections – although streetwear is a funny term because it’s on the street that we wear everything really… Luxury is a thing that people aspire to, but it’s also a thing that people want to wear to a nightclub, a bar or a restaurant, out and about, to be seen in".

#3 Unity Is Strenght

"The most modern thing to do right now is for designers to collaborate with each other" - explained Kim Jones - "When you work together you learn from each other, you find different things and you create new, interesting projects".

And during his journey with Vuitton, the English designer has joined forces with several artists and brands, from NikeLab or Fragment Design to Jake and Dinos Chapaman with their surreal bestiary, but the ultimate collaboration, the one for which he will be remembered, it is with Supreme inside Louis Vuitton FW17 collection, a tribute to the 1980s NY populated by icons such as Basquiat and Warhol.

"You can’t have the conversation of New York men’s wear without Supreme right now, because it’s such a massive global phenomenon" - Jones said, interviewed by WWD - "I just feel that the strength of their graphic versus the strength of the Louis Vuitton graphic, and that kind of Pop Art feeling — it works together perfectly".

So two seemingly distant entities together give life to a unique success, made of huge sales, galactic hype, long queues of fashionistas out of pop up stores waiting to buy a piece fruit of their partnership.