Kris Van Assche’s beginnings weren’t subject to unanimous applause, between nostalgic detractors from the Slimane era who didn’t want the brand to evolve, and those who reproached him for making Dior Homme emulate his own clothing line. Since his first chiaroscuro show complete with an orchestra, the Belgian designer hasn’t ceased to multiply temptations, bringing out through the years a new identity for Dior Homme, far from the skimpy cuts and pop-rock accents of his predecessor. While the Winter collection ended up resembling a new futurist footnote crossbred with esotericism set to a background of post-punk New Wave music, the Spring/Summer Dior Homme was announced as being ambivalent, both highly conceptual and surprisingly casual through an evident rigor.

KVA explains that he was inspired by a trip to Florida, where the idea for the seaside tuxedo came from, the pants becoming shorts and the jacket losing its sleeves: “Everything started in Miami, where I felt truly ridiculous in a tuxedo on the beach. So I wanted to mix formal and informal.” This is how tuxedos met sportswear, rigor flirted with lightness, without marking the double imperative of modesty and distinction that characterizes the modern Dior Homme line.

What’s fascinating about this collection is the ease with which Dior is able to nonchalantly propose basics of masculine elegance that are abruptly cut to adapt them to a summer context. And that’s how we arrive at the extensive color palette: obviously black, joined by plum, Prussian blue, Montaigne grey, sometimes used on the surface, sometimes as a patchwork reminiscent of Mondrian. These color blocks, grafted onto the clothes, seem to interlock with one another, not to deny the singularity of each garment, but rather to affirm their interchangeability. The decor is no accident; a labyrinth of mirrors through which the silhouettes seem to interlock with one another.