Gareth Pugh is so the New Dior Homme

Not only is was the Gareth Pugh show today the most creative and interesting so far this season, it also showed more taste, judgment, and an alignment with a tradition than Kris Van Assche ever has for Dior Homme. Granted, this was easily the best Dior Homme collection Van Assche has given us to date, but he's had about four opportunities since he took over for Hedi Slimane and all have been objectively duds (literally panned across the board). Things he did right this time:

1. He reached into the house's history to bring back some signature concepts such as the suit, interesting cut, and lush knits.

The above look is actually the best of the show; the skin-tight pinstripe pants show he's thinking about the House's past while the jacket is superb--classic yet interesting. The hair, the makeup, the clothes all cohere to one vision that at once venerates Dior Homme, but also inserts Van Assche's sense of taste (read, the color black, hightop sneakers) into the mix.

Another good look featuring a luscious knit.


2. He didn't make too many objectively ugly things (see the end of "The Best of Mens '08" for the greatest dissapointment to date).

3. He added coherence to the show by creating and readressing themes:

This cowl shirt is one of my favorite elements from the show. I would definitely buy one. He readdresses and reinterprets this element throughout the show.

...But here's where we start to get a little out of focus:

I'm all for addressing the 80's--big shoulders, big hair, big everything--there's a lot of design potential in these trends, but Van Assche just sort of threw them out there and let them sit (something I'd say he's now famous for). This big t-shirt could be okay if he adjusted the outfit and proportion of the jacket. This model just looks like he just got out of bed to get the morning paper. Also, I initially loved the jacket until I realized that there was stretch on the bottom and the sleeves. Not very haute at all.

Oh. And for future reference, hair and makeup are important.


And then he showed some questionable looks that just seemed to take up space, rather than add to a collection (poor coherence). We'd rather have less looks and a better show. Okay Kris?


As for Gareth Pugh. Well. That was just a grand pleasure. It was as if John Galliano, Hedi Slimane, and Rick Owens came together to create this spectacle of what everyone was trying to express (read, every gaunt, dark collection, especially Prada) and concentrated those sentiments into his collection. It was incredible.

The collection has just enough play to be "Couture," while one could also see how Pugh would translate it into stores. The looks were classic and twisted, apocolyptic and modern, black and full of life.

This look could have been from a Slimane-Dior Homme show (minus the Pugh-head piece):



...Actually, all of them could have passed for Hedi-era Dior. Each look has the same cut and proportion of an old Dior Homme model, with the same penchant for loud materials and a relatively slouchy set of knits. But Pugh stamps his signature with a penchant for sci-fi horror fun.

Truly a pleasure.

(Van Assche will get there... eventually. If he isn't sacked first)

Edit in light of commenter's apt criticism:

It seems that the old Dior Homme niche (the one that matters) has been filled by Gareth Pugh; unfortunately, this makes current, Kris Van Assche Dior Homme extremely irrelevant as he can't put a coherent collection together (or even original, tasteful garments).