The best blurring of codes yet

MANILA, Philippines — If womenswear is black and menswear is white, then it is apt that Kim Jones’ Dior winter collection blurred these codes in Dior Grey and all its gradients. Couture created to era-defining heights by Monsieur Dior himself is examined through the prism of modern menswear and traditional tailoring by Jones. No reference is half-baked and the execution is simply genius. Here are the details worth zooming in on.

Setting the ‘bar’

The legendary Bar, a jacket and definer of the New Look since it debuted in 1947 is translated as a coat. In a tailoring tribute, it’s made in houndstooth or Prince of Wales (eventually adopted to couture by Dior himself), and the canvas — usually invisible as it gives structure — appears through the jacket’s pleats and darts that create the cinched waist, extended to the hem to create that emblematic silhouette. I gasped when one coat with a haute couture-level drape at the front came down the runway.

Yes you ‘cannage’

The pattern beloved by women like Princess Diana on her Lady Dior is quilted into a glossy leather coat and is shaved into shearling.

Roaring leopard

Leopard print is Mitzah Bricard’s favorite, Dior pattern-cutter-turned-millenary director and the founding designer’s muse. Her spirit lives on in a cape-style blouson with a corresponding beret — girl loved hats, just like Stephen Jones, who is celebrating 25 years as the House's master milliner.

Divine blooms

Dior once said, “After women, flowers are the most divine creations.” Jones pays tribute with a leather flower-holder bag and embroideries from Maison Lesage, blooming throughout the collection. There’s a flower-embroidered Saddle. The daintiest blooms on berets. The shower of silk flowers adorning the original “Miss Dior” dress from 1949 is recreated as embroidery on sweaters. Sprigs of an American couture client’s dress from the archives were scattered in a meadow-like placing on tulle T-shirts, undercollars, and layered over outerwear. The flowers even appear on a pair of limited Birks — yes, you read that right.

Dior Birks???

Debuting on the runway are the Dior Birkenstock collaboration styles based on Birks’ Milano sandal and Tokio mule — not your basic Arizona — and executed in Dior gray with the Dior Saddle buckle, and a sole tread that combines the Dior Oblique and Birkenstock 1774 bone patterns.

Twinkle, twinkle little rhinestones

Rhinestones bring brilliance to unexpected pieces such as leather derbies, a structured vertical clutch, a Dior Saddle bag, gloves, B101 sneakers, the Dior Oblique, and the new Corolle Tote.

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In the Philippines, Dior is in the new Greenbelt 3 and The Shoppes at Solaire.