Lewis Hamilton has found himself in a different driver’s seat. Swapping out his usual Mercedes supercar for a seat in the Dior atelier, Hamilton — Dior Men’s newest guest designer — is now meandering the fashion circuit.
When Lewis Hamilton was first introduced as Dior Men’s guest designer for the season, there was a smidgen of scepticism that crossed this writer’s mind. As good as a dresser Hamilton might be, his full-time job is in the driver’s seat of a super-fast supercar, not that of a storied house. So what would the seven-time Formula 1 winner be able to bring to the house that could be so radical, and so necessary it deserved its own lifestyle capsule?
To understand the capsule for what it is, one must first examine the pieces in their singularities. In the collection, one will find savoir-faire-backed skiwear, a new hard-wearing Dior backpack, and other alpine-friendly offerings of knits, fleeces and sweats, arriving timely enough for the hit-the-slopes season. But in the capsule, one will also find Cannage-cut-out protective gear and custom snowboards — neither of which are traditional, run-off-the-mill canvases beloved by guest designers for creative exploration. The aha-moment comes with the realisation that movement, and the precision of movement, are the central, unifying forces between the collaborators, Hamilton, and Dior Men artistic director Kim Jones. Different as Hamilton’s and Jones’ worlds may initially appear to be, movement and precision are qualities that seep through the practices of both the designer and athlete. As a seven-time Grand Prix winner, the household-name sportsman has had ample experience with movement, and even more so, an acute understanding of how accuracy can make or break the result of that movement. The slightest of curvatures or contortions can yield an entirely different result in the world of sports. And the same applies for Jones’ world, where the principles of savoir-faire rest on the meticulous and diligent artisan practices, which have been innate to the legacy of his house of Dior.
Palpitating through these new lifestyle creations is henceforth a spirit of synergy. Examined in the intersections of Hamilton’s understanding of athleticism, and his and Jones’ love for Africa, the collection odes to energy. Specifically, the energies of vibrancy and dynamism. The release of dopamine one would get from movement and the scintillating diversities found within African culture are what fuels this drive. One instance sees cowrie shells, prized by African communities for the prosperity, wealth and destiny that they symbolise, are now crystallised and envisioned in silver, to be strung alongside coloured pearls and charms. In another instance, an intensity inspired by sporting cultures materialises in the new collaborative B44 Blade sneaker. Intense in volume and visuals, four turbo-charged colour ways are set against a voluminous outsole, that is punctuated by a blade insert — a reference to the running tenet of the sporting universe. Retro microfiber and canvas inserts offer more functionality in soaking in the vibrant Technicolor of orange, blue, purple and green gradients, to birth an animatedly athletic offering for the house’s already-exhilarating sneaker archive.
Calibration between the collaborators occurs more than once too. Paying homage to the global backgrounds that Hamilton and Jones both experienced in their formative years, is a limitless approach to craft. Literally so, geographical boundaries are forgone in the devising of the collection. Beyond Hamilton and Jones, and beyond the African influence that permeates the collection, credited too are the maison’s ‘global ateliers’, which stem from its Paris headquarters to the Japanese ski authorities of Descente, and the weavers of Burkina Faso. In Dior’s own words, it is a collection that “takes diverse, global and non-disposable” views, “going beyond fashion”. Equipped with an intentionality at its forefront, the capsule determines a transcendental quality to the unexpected partnership. Rather than viewing the collection as a collaborative exercise between two of the biggest figures in present-day pop culture, the Lewis Hamilton x Dior Men collection acts as an antithesis to inertia, as instead, a personal paean to all the converging tenets of sport and art.
Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our December 2024 issue.