What’s in a name? That depends. Christian Dior’s name appeared as the logo of his eponymous brand in 1948—a year after the cinched waists and abundant skirts of his legendary debut collection, “The New Look,” put the intrepid Parisian designer on the map.
In the following decade, Dior became synonymous with impeccable elegance and hyperfemininity, bringing a sense of vibrancy back to a beleaguered postwar Paris. Fast forward to 1980s New Jersey, where a teenage Brian Donnelly was dreaming up a new name for himself. He decided on Kaws—for the simple reason that the letters looked good together.
Since trading the world of graffiti for that of high art and luxury collectibles, the artist has become a deft translator of the visual cacophony and nostalgic pull of our era, churning out work that sets the semiotics of street art, fashion, and consumerism on a collision course.
This year, Kim Jones—the artistic director of Dior Men—tapped Kaws to leave his mark on the house’s latest capsule collection. Infused with an ebullient pop spirit, the pieces—bomber jackets, tailored sweats, and quilted shirts splashed with shades of tangerine and lime—are crowned with one particularly memorable touch. Dior’s crisp and hallowed logo is transformed into a playful serpentine cursive, a Paris-approved homage to Kaws’s graffiti-infused oeuvre.
