Dior men from every perspective

Men’s haute couture laboratory: l’Atelier

Just a stone’s throw from 30 Montaigne, there is another, more secret space. It is the Atelier. Opened in 2000 under the impulse of Hedi Slimane, then artistic director of men’s fashion, this department has become over the years the soul of the tailor-made label Dior. A kind of haute couture laboratory combined with the masculine. Under the hoe of Myriem Peyret, the first Ready-to-Wear workshop at Dior Men, sixteen people with golden hands realize Kim Jones’ wildest dreams. Here, a pleated on a bombers. There, a clever play of transparency on an organza coat that lets us glimpse all the stitching of the tailor’s work on the structure of the piece. Or a fully embroidered shirt that took more than a thousand hours of work! Kim Jones, accompanied by her studio, shows the sketches of a new collection and also the necessary fabrics for the realization of it. It is not uncommon for the designer himself to bring photos of women’s clothing from the house’s archives. A fall, a detail, a cut caught his attention. They are transcribed by the Atelier in the image of the magnificent pleated skirt of the Bonne Fortune dress created in the 50s which is found on the back of a overcoat of the Autumn 2023 collection. From tailors – including Huseyin Dil, who has worked since the Atelier’s inception – to fabric cutters and assemblers, nothing is impossible for this team. In unison, they work on the four annual collections and also on more special lines such as the capsules Ski, Beach, Valentine’s Day and Lunar. Some of the team members also work behind the scenes at the Paris parades and accompany Kim Jones to capitals around the world for the Autumn and Cruise shows. With an alert eye that doesn’t let any flaw pass, they adjust, with their expert hands, at the last moment the fall of a sleeve, the lapel of a jacket or the collar of a tunic on the mannequins before they jump on the podium. It also happens that these artisans of the more than perfect work on specific outfits only intended for celebrities or on ultra-exclusive orders passed by some loyal customers of the house. But shh! No name is revealed, haute couture discretion obliges.