The New Look of Dior Homme

Grey windowpane trousers are cropped above the ankle, perfect stage attire for hyper-stylish lead singers
Parachute pants: neither flattering nor desirable
A smart tuxedo was a safe bet for Van Assche
White tuxedo shirts with shrunken Peter Pan collars are sharp, but the parachute pants look like a skirt
More slim, gorgeous tuxedos, built to fly out of stores

Hedi Slimane has left the building. The man responsible for the reign of ultra-slim suits on ultra-slim boys has moved on. Taking his place? Former protégé Kris Van Assche, who has been making headlines of his own with his decidedly slick take on dressing the modern man, all with just a hint of retro silhouettes. How did he do on his first time around at Dior Homme? While Slimane was into a strict, hypermodern, rock-infused vision of a man (with inspiration ranging from The Matrix to Pete Doherty), his successor appears to have a somewhat less severe view of what the new Dior Homme man will add to his closet. Take the trouser silhouette. There is now variety, from the pin-thin silhouette that Slimane had favored so dearly, but Van Assche is now expanding the range to include traditional cuts, as well as less practical MC Hammer-style parachute pants. While the latter is vastly flamboyant and questionable for black-tie wear, there is no doubt that the promise of pants cut for those with more than a 30" waist is a very positive development. Other than that, Van Assche stayed in fairly conservative territory, concentrating on a palette of black, white and greys, shaped into sharp tuxedo shirts with shrunken Peter Pan collars, clean windowpane suits, and slick satin detailing applied to seams and lapels. It was a safe way to play, probably a good bet when making the transition after such a strong visionary like Slimane.