Kim Jones to replace Kris Van Assche at Dior

In late 2017, Sidney Toledano became Executive Chairman of the LVMH Group, with Pietro Baccari taking his role as CEO of Christian Dior Couture. The first big change since Baccari took his new role comes as Kris Van Assche steps down as artistic director of Dior, with Kim Jones having been announced to take his position. This is an exciting shuffle as Jones’ time at Louis Vuitton established his role as one of the best talents in menswear, introducing streetwear elements into the high fashion brand, most notably with his Supreme collaboration for A/W 17.

Kris Van Assche (Image credit to original photographer)

Kris Van Assche studied at the Royal Academy of Art in Antwerp before starting his career under Hedi Slimane at Yves Saint Laurent. As Slimane took on his role at Dior Homme in 2004, Van Assche also moved to Dior, working as an assistant until Hedi left the label. This was when Kris Van Assche took over as artistic director for Dior Menswear, bringing all new, more sports forward, silhouettes to the brand. During this time, He was also working on marketing Dior more heavily throughout Asia and getting campaigns with the likes of A$AP Rocky and Larry Clark among others.

Louis Vuitton x Supreme (Image credit to original photographer)

Kim Jones’ time at Louis Vuitton (2011-2018) was full of his love of travel, color, print, and luxury materials. He had numerous hits such as the previously stated Supreme collaboration (Maybe we'll see some Dior collaborations...) and his use of embroidery on souvenir jackets and denim. It'll be interesting to see Jones' take on Dior and how He follows up with the clean sportswear that Kris Van Assche made recognizable. This is undoubtedly an exciting change, but where does this leave Louis Vuitton? Who is taking over Kim Jones’ former role?