Jack Kerouac's Masterpiece Inspires Dior Collection
Kim Jones, the winner of the Fashion Awards Designer of the Year, cites Jack Kerouac's classic novel "On the Road" as inspiration for his debut show in London around 2003.
Influence of "On the Road": The seminal work of the Beat generation by Jack Kerouac famously "sold a million Levi's, [and] a million espresso machines," observes William Burroughs, friend and fellow writer to the author.
Now, one of the coolest books in literature finds itself in the fashion limelight as the muse for a Dior menswear collection unveiled at a blockbuster London runway show.
Kim Jones is a British creative director for Dior menswear and has collected rare books and literary artifacts related to the beat generation. He also possesses Kerouac's mother's copy of "On the Road," books inscribed by Burroughs to artist David Hockney, letters moving in every direction within the group, and even poet Allen Ginsberg's credit card.
Jones mentioned the dust jacket from his personal copy of Kerouac's prescient "Visions of Cody," featuring those two carelessly bruised James Deanish brothers sprawled out and attired for a trip. On the catwalk: slicked-back hair, checkered shirts with sheepskin-collar driver jackets on top, cropped high trousers over brogues, and mismatched socks; T-shirts with book covers and Dior football jerseys, courtesy of Kerouac's athletic scholarship at Columbia University.
"American sportswear is going to become the base of the modern men's wardrobe," Jones said during a preview of the show. "I wanted the collection to feel like a suitcase you might take on a road trip." Though luxe, logo-adorned bags whose inspiration was clearly what sustains Dior's profits rather than what a Beat writer might have carried on the road.
It's new territory for Jones, who's been revolutionizing luxury menswear with a mix of "hypebeast" streetwear sensibility. He's created some of the most coveted shoes, such as Air Dior sneakers, done in conjunction with Nike, and also did a line with Supreme while at Louis Vuitton. But, according to Jones, the Beat authors are just as proto-influencers on youth culture as those sneakers, or streetwear in general.
"Models have been coming in for fittings [for this show], and often they have read the book — they can quote passages because they've read it more recently than me. I read it in my late teens, as one does," Jones reflected on an enduring appeal of Kerouac's work.
