The 48-year-old Briton achieved worldwide notoriety after being chosen to fill the position that the late Karl Lagerfeld held at Fendi for decades.
He is one of the most celebrated male talents of his generation and came to be ordered by the British Empire. But this year, his versatility allowed him to achieve the highest award of Designer of the Year for his work as creative head of the Fendi women’s collection, an area that was not his greatest strength.
According to the New York Times, Kim Jones’ many accomplishments did not include being a womenswear designer. She didn’t study women’s fashion at Central Saint Martins and, until she was 41, hadn’t created a complete women’s collection from scratch.
And yet, last September, LVMH group executives appointed him Artistic Director of Women’s Clothing for Fendi, The charge which Karl Lagerfeld held for 54 years, died in 2019.
Undoubtedly, taking the Lagerfeld post and succeeding in that mission is a merit that his industry colleagues wanted to recognize him at the recent Fashion Awards, made at the Royal Albert Hall in London, at the end of last November.
His debut in the Italian house occurred in January 2021 with a haute couture runway that drew familiar faces: Kate Moss and her daughter Lila Moss, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Bella Hadid, Demi Moore and Cara Delevingne.
“This first collection gives me an autobiographical feel. The things I refer to are very personal”, Commented Jones for the magazine Vogue when talking about his designs closely linked to the aesthetics of the Bloomsbury Circle (group of British intellectuals, to which Virginia Woolf belonged). Jones grew up a few blocks from the home of the author of A room of my own (1929).
“Fendi is about strong, intelligent women who know what they are doing with their lives. Pioneering women, like the ones in Bloomsbury, like the ones in the parade. It’s a declaration of intent: on the one hand, to celebrate what Fendi is; on the other, the stories of these incredible women“, He said.
In addition, Jones remains Dior’s artistic director of menswear, which means that not only is he putting himself in Lagerfeld’s place at Fendi, but also, like Lagerfeld, he will be the only designer at the top of two global luxury heritage brands. “I think I have achieved quite a few good things in my career, and this is the next step.”
Who is Kim Jones?
Kim Jones was born in 1979 in London. As the son of a hydrogeologist he spent his childhood traveling through various countries, which also added to his interest in discovering the elements of new cultures. He studied at Central Saint Martins and his first designs caught the attention of the designer John Galliano. In 2002 he launched his first own collection and between 2011 and 2018 he worked for Louis Vuitton. That year he left the brand to lead the Dior men’s line.
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