For the 7th installment of The Early Days series, we present the dual roles of Kris Van Assche, as a designer in his own right for his eponymous label, and as the creative director at Dior Homme.

Kris was invited to curate A#7 at a pivotal time in his career, as he took the helm of Dior Homme in 2007. Having taken this significant role, he chose to interpret and realise the masculine vision of the house of Dior – with all it’s tradition, codes and signatures – as well as continuing to develop his own label. It is inevitable that the two cross aesthetic paths at times, but it is the ability to uphold the two separate worlds simultaneously that warrants merit.

For Kris’s first solo collection for Fall Winter 2005, he explored the concept of the three-piece suit, and how it could fit with a more relaxed mens wardrobe – teaming his artfully-panelled suits with sneakers and casual checked shirts. With the theme of a ‘working man’, Kris adapted the traditional formality of a suit to a modern setting, and for the finale sent out rather unconventional models to demonstrate this – with three 50+ gentlemen wearing his designs.

In his Dior Homme debut for Spring Summer 2008, this relaxed vibe was not so evident in the garments – rather in the intimate salon setting that he chose to show his first capsule for the house. The showing consisted of a small press presentation in Paris, with models posing in crisp formal looks beneath crystal chandeliers. The collection was a study in the basics and fundamentals that underpin the house, with Kris’s eye for detail and construction showcased in white shirting, voluminous pleated trousers and sombre, slim suiting.

It wasn’t until a season after that Kris truly flexed his creative muscle at Dior, having a full time frame to realise the Fall Winter 08-09 collection. This first runway collection was a poetically dark affair – with a sheen and lustre to both formal and sportswear pieces, rendering them instantly luxurious. Butterfly accessories were worn as bowties and pinned across suit jackets, and the pleated trousers of the season before returned in both satin and leather variations. Models seemed vampiric with their gelled flat hair and ghostly white makeup, descending upon the crowd in a dramatic finale of white dinner shirts.

Although not as far in the distant past as some of our other curators first shows, it is still an insightful study to place Kris’s work in a temporal context, to see the progress of his vision for both labels, from the beginning to his latest work for Fall Winter 2010. Always playing classics with an edgy twist, he continues to define a wardrobe for an assuredly masculine, modern gentleman.

Above: Dior Homme Spring Summer 2008 presentation, photographed by Gaëtan Bernard.

Above: Dior Homme by Kris Van Assche Fall Winter 2008-2009 photographed by Patrice Stable.

All images courtesy of Dior Homme & Kris Van Assche. Rights reserved.