If fashion loops infinitely, then certainly goodbyes should come in the form of hellos — a greeting to start all sorts of conversations. For this season’s showing, It’s hard to ignore the rumours surrounding Kim Jones’ impending departure from Dior Men. And if it were true, the auteur’s latest Dior Men Fall/Winter ’25 collection would have shown enough signs of a farewell. Yes, some may digress that the lack of prints and neon hues accompanied by Michael Nyman’s heartbreaking and daunting score may serve as literature from a court-ordered divorce document. But if you were to ignore the noise of the press, the new collection felt more like a greeting from an old friend; that is if you count chancing upon a moment of déjà-vu as one.

The new collection, which takes apart pieces of the well-documented Dior La Ligue ‘H Line’ collection from 1954, feels more like a graduation ensemble to commemorate Jones’ time at Dior — again, not helping with the rumours. It references that specific collection so heavily that you might be forgiven for thinking that some looks were actual womenswear haute couture pieces pulled from the archive and eventually put onto male models. Streetwear was practically nonexistent, colours were muted and kept to a minimum. Some models were even blinded by a simple ribbon, and that was intentionally the highlight of those looks.

With historic Dior silhouettes at play, plus details pulled straight from the hands of the artisans working in the salons of the house’s haute couture department, it defies seasonal moods and trends. The new collection has no attitude or a need to form one. It is ceremonial and customary — the things you would see at a wedding or a funeral, much less a fashion show.

But if there is anything we have learnt from the last six years of a Kim Jones-ruled Dior Men, it is that his take on Dior is never about over-complicating things. Rather, its methodology looks at things that are inherently beautiful, pretty even and applies them all to men’s fashion — even if it is a tad bit feminine. And while designers that turn to beauty instead of inciting passion have always been construed by the press as superficial, there is something about his clothes that can and will make your heart flutter.

Blame it on the sets or the details that shine even while it is miles away from you on the runway, but Kim Jones at Dior has always stirred enough emotions in us that it has become hard to hide how we feel about it, no matter what we truly think of the house. And should this Dior Men FW25 collection be his last, we can all agree his FW25 collection is one hell of a way to make an exit. A perfect, bittersweet goodbye.

This article was first seen on Men’s Folio.

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