EXCLUSIVE: Dior Announces Global Pop-ups for Rollout of Denim Tears Collaboration
BUBBLING UP: Dior is dropping its capsule collection with cult label Denim Tears with a series of pop-ups around the world featuring giant inflatable installations.
The first space will open in London on Saturday with a cocktail event in the presence of Kim Jones, artistic director of men’s collections at Dior. However, Denim Years creative director Tremaine Emory will not be attending, as he is still recovering from the lower aortic aneurysm that caused him to miss the line’s launch event in Cairo last December.
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The London pop-up will remain open until July 13. It will be followed by temporary stores in Tokyo from July 11 to 30, Seoul from July 13 to 22, and Shanghai from July 15 to 25, the brand said in a statement.
Dior promised “an immersive, multisensory experience,” as each boutique will feature huge inflatables occupying the interior spaces.
“Visible from the surrounding streets, their organic shapes reveal an inhabited, alternative universe, where sounds, shadows and lights are perceived differently — as if filtered — conveying an entrancing, poetic atmosphere,” it said.
Customers will be able to enter the bubbles in Seoul and Shanghai, but not in London or Tokyo, said a spokeswoman for the house. The spaces will be animated with musical sessions and video projections designed by the studio of Japanese floral artist Azuma Makoto. Inspired by the Dior Tears logo designed for the collaboration, the videos can be downloaded with a QR code.
Denim Tears, which has collaborated with brands including Levi’s, Ugg, Converse and Champion, is known for telling stories about the African diaspora and promoting racial justice and cultural activism through its designs, such as its signature cotton wreath motif.
Unveiled during a presentation at the Grand Egyptian Museum, the Dior Tears collection was inspired by Black artists and creatives like writer James Baldwin and jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, who were celebrated in Europe in the ’50s even as segregation raged back home in the U.S.
“It wasn’t perfect but it was just a moment, a beautiful moment for Blacks to have the privilege and opportunity to escape from the terror, the horrors of America, a segregated Jim Crow America,” said Emory, who is also creative director of cult New York skatewear brand Supreme.
Models wore high-low combinations that summed up the meeting of French craftmanship and American staples. Think tailored wool overcoats paired with slouchy cashmere jogging pants, and suits rendered in lightweight technical fabrics borrowed from workwear.
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