Kim Jones: the genius who wants retire streetwear

FROM LONDON TO THE AMAZON AND BACK AGAIN

Kim Jones has been combining different influences since his childhood. This is partly thanks to his father being a hydrogeologist, who spent a lot of his time travelling around the world because of work. Kim Jones was born in London in 1979, but since finishing his studies, he’s never stayed there for long. Kim spent his youth with his family on hydrogeological travels through Ecuador, the Caribbean, the Amazon rainforest or Africa, where he spent the majority of his childhood. “Growing up in Africa alongside lizards, snakes, elephants and baboons leaves a mark on you,” according to Jones, as a sharp contrast to suburbian England. A contrast that would later become the main element of his projects, collections and artwork.

Source:hypebeast.com

Kim returned to London for his studies. Since a child, Kim had a gift for art, so he joined graphic design and photography at Camberwell School of Art. His interest in fashion was, luckily, awakened by his older sister Nadia, who supplied Kim with a steady feed of fashion magazines. The call of fashion became so strong that, after high school, Kim applied to one of the most prestigious universities of fashion design, Central Saint Martins and finished his studies – other successful graduates include Craig Green, Kiko Kostadinov and Ricardo Tisci.

READY, GET SET, JOHN GALLIANO, GO!

While some people wait for their big career jump for decades, or even their whole life, Kim Jones checked this off while still studying – part of his thesis was a clothing collection that got bought by John Galliano right after its first presentation – John’s the creative director of fashion house Maison Margiela.

But it wasn’t just this success that kick-started Kim’s career. A whole lot of people were impressed by his iconic style, combining couture, or high fashion, with elements of streetwear. By the way, we’re still in 2003, way before this phenomenon became a commonly discussed topic – we’ll get to this in a second.

Source: hypebeast.com

STREETWEAR – ALL OR NOTHING

Kim Jones partly built his success on the complex combining of high fashion and streetwear. This fact closely correlates with why Kim doesn’t like to use the word streetwear. In a 2018 interview with Highsnobiety, he also mentioned several reasons why he thinks it’s time to stop using the world completely. “You wear clothes in the street, so everything’s streetwear. You can wear a couture gown down the street and that turns it into streetwear.”

FROM DUNHILL TO DIOR AND FENDI

After eight years of building his own brand, Kim got an offer he couldn’t refuse – the position of creative director at British luxury brand Dunhill. Three years in the fashion industry went by and 2011 came. And along with it, another change of profession. The talented designer became the lead of the men’s ready-to-wear division of Louis Vuitton. The interest in Kim Jones’ services throughout the fashion industry was huge. And so, a lot of big collaborations gradually became a part of his portfolio – brands like Mulberry, Alexander McQueen, Hugo Boss, Iceberg, Topman or Japanese chain Uniqlo are all on Kim’s CV now.

In 2018, Kim’s time at Louis Vuitton came to an end, just as another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity came up – Kim filled the role of Dior Homme’s creative director – this is the men’s division of high fashion powerhouse Christian Dior. Kim’s influence was truly global – as proved by his collaboration with K-pop superstars BTS, whom he tailored outfits for their worldwide tour. But the best was still yet to come.

Source: GQ Magazine

Air Jordan 1 Retro in collaboration with Dior

Incidentally, Kim is an avid sneaker collector. In his own words, his archive features about five to six hundred pairs, which is a lot, even when compared to the top collectors here at Footshop. But back to the topic, Kim’s work from late 2020 might have been his most visible yet – the extremely highly anticipated, discussed, loved and hated collaboration between Air Jordan and Dior resulted in a retro edition of Air Jordan’s first silhouette. The Jordan 1 Retro High Dior are sneakers that symbolize Kim Jones’ entire career. The combination of influences, breaking of rules and connecting the “un-connectable”. All things considered, you can find these sneakers on the secondary market for the steep price of about $ 8 000 per pair. Check out other of Kim’s collabs, with Nike on the Air Max 95 silhouette, or with Converse on the Chuck 70 model. We have both in stock on our website right now, and the cost a lot less than the Jordan collab, trust me.

I love mixing together different worlds, different ideas – Jordan Brand and Dior are both emblematic of absolute excellence in their fields. To bring them together in this special collaboration is to propose something exciting and truly new.

Kim Jones, 2020

To top it all off, after Karl Lagerfeld’s passing in 2020, Kim Jones was also passed the torch of the ladie’s collections art director at Fendi – the man who spent most of his life around mens clothing suddenly had another challenge in front of him. But, if anyone doubted Kim, his debut display at Paris Fashion Week from this January definitely spoke for itself. Plants, glass, purity, fleshed-out outfits and Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell – some of the many keywords that no doubt resonated among the witnesses of Kim’s show long after it finished.

THE LIVING LEGEND – ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

It might seem strange, or wild to someone not at home in the fashion circles, but Kim Jones has been shaping the world of fashion and sneakers for the last 20 years. He holds the award for the best British fashion designer of 2006, 2009 and 2019 – and, in 2020, Kim received the prestigious Order of the British Empire for lifelong contributions to fashion. Kim Jones is a living legend, and we can’t wait to see what this timeless London native will bring in the decades to come.

You can find other articles about important artists that shaped today’s trends – I can recommend the article about Kenzo Takada, or the story of Heron Preston. By the way, both of these artist’s collections are available online at Footshop.