EXCLUSIVE: Kim Jones Taps Kenny Scharf For Dior Pre-Fall Collection

STREET STYLE: Kim Jones is making sure that Dior’s windows will pop next year, recruiting Kenny Scharf, a mainstay of the New York art scene in the Eighties, to lend his colorful touch to his upcoming pre-fall men’s collection.

As reported, the line will be unveiled online on Dec. 8 on dior.com due to ongoing travel restrictions designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The brand will host an exclusive event in Beijing to mark the reveal.

Since taking over as artistic director of men’s collections at Dior, Jones has made art collaborations a central feature of his design process, with a preference for artists that cross over into pop culture, such as Kaws, Daniel Arsham, Hajime Sorayama and Raymond Pettibon.

Scharf rose to fame alongside Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat as part of the East Village scene that emerged out of street art, creating a distinctive universe populated by creatures ranging from cartoon characters like the Flintstones to one-eyed monsters and doughnuts in space.

His Surrealist paintings in Day-Glo colors were most recently exhibited at the Almine Rech gallery in New York City under the heading “Dystopian Painting.” In addition to designing the cover art for the 1986 B-52’s album “Bouncing Off the Satellites,” Scharf has collaborated with brands including Gap, Swatch, Levi’s and Zara.

“One very important and guiding principle to my work is to reach out beyond the elitist boundaries of fine art and connect to popular culture through my art,” he says on his web site, kennyscharf.com. The artist is represented by global licensing agency and creative consultancy Artestar.

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