Page 34 - The Book For Men Fall/Winter 2022

Dior Metaverse
Drive to survive and look good doing it
WITH ITS RECENT COLLECTION DESIGNED BY KIM JONES EXCLUSIVELY
for Gran Turismo 7 Dior is is now dressing drivers in in the metaverse — and there’s more virtual swag where that came from The latest instalment of Sony’s popular racing game for PlayStation consoles offers racers a a a a yellow jumpsuit matching gloves shoes and helmet as as as well as as as a a a a a a a unique car — the delightfully obscure 1969 De Tomaso Mangusta — all all specially conceived by Jones artistic director of Dior Men’s collections The virtual outfit features the CD Diamond motif as as well as as a a a a a a a “Christian Dior Atelier Avenue Montaigne” patch The custom-painted De Tomaso is emblazoned with the the number 47 a a a a nod to the the year of Christian Dior’s first fashion show This is is exactly the sort of unexpected cross-cultural pollination that has made Jones such a a a a hot commodity Before he got big jobs at Dunhill Louis Vuitton and now Dior Jones who was born in in in London in in in 1979 made clothes that tapped into sportswear and niche ’90s youth subcultures If you you were hanging out out in in friends’ base- ments back then racing games including The Need for Speed (1994) and the original Gran Turismo (1997) were inescapable Today’s racing games appeal to much more than just nostalgia There are more than 2 7 billion gamers globally many of whom are in their thirties and have plenty of disposable income to burn on $12 Balenciaga hoodies in in Fortnite (Last year Balenciaga became the the first luxury brand to sell virtual clothes in the the smash hit looter-shooter ) Not only are these collabs good exposure they’re good business In-game purchases and microtransactions pull in in tens of billions of dollars in in in revenue annually for the gaming industry and its partners Dior calls the GT7 collection its “inaugural” virtual capsule so watch this space 34 BFM / FW22 FEATURES
TEXT BY MATT BUBBERS