Dior Beachwear Capsule: Sustainability in Style
For children and adults alike, summer beach days are ripe for daydreams. Stories of long-lost treasures and alluring saltwater pearls share a sentiment: the ocean is home to adventure. Dior Beachwear Capsule embodies this playful sense of possibility with crisp looks born from sea-saving materials.
A mutual interest in “material revolution” towards sustainable fashion spurred Dior’s second collaboration with Parley for the Oceans, a non-profit dedicated to marine protection. The result? An innovative celebration of oceanic beauty, with Dior’s artisans spinning upcycled marine debris and fishing gear into trademark high-quality fabrics like seersucker and silk knit.
The project flowed naturally from the fashion house – in the brand’s early days, Christian Dior took inspiration from the rolling waves of his birthplace in Granville, France. Current artistic designer Kim Jones clearly shares his predecessor’s passion: the endeavour proudly sources 96% of its fabrics from recycled material.
The designs flaunt their heritage with a Neptunian flair. Cameos of grey and navy contrast playful shades of lemon-yellow and coral. Meanwhile, nautical motifs permeate the collection’s footwear: exterior cuts resemble beach-foam bubbles, while laces have the wiry, taut feel of a fishing line.
These fresh designs are the fruit of a joint research project between Parsley and Dior, started back in 2019. With Dior’s fashion prowess and Parsley’s environmental acumen, the two created new yarns and fabrics from Parley Ocean Plastic®. The materials are constructed out of debris recovered from remote coastlines – including those of Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and the Dominican Republic – before their metamorphosis into menswear.
The process of turning rubbish into couture is emblematic of both parties’ bold attitude towards climate change. Cyrill Gutsch, founder and CEO of Parley for the Oceans, said himself: “We need transformational change in every sector of society,” characterizing the collaboration as “a call for the fashion industry to revolutionize its production methods.”
Gutsch keeps his word – the collection makes significant material impact. Dior’s Beachwear Capsule supports the new “Parley X10” program, which mandates that “ten times the equivalent of each product’s carbon and plastic footprint will be intercepted from nature, the development of new materials that can replace plastic long-term is funded, and the use of new, virgin plastic is avoided.”
On the aesthetic side, the Beachwear Capsule continues to be a trailblazer. Jones’ work pushes the fashion boundaries as he makes bold statements of contrast, blurring the lines between functional fashion and haute couture. The collection reimagines utilitarian staples like fishing hats and running shoes with flamboyant colours and bold silhouettes. Dior’s take on modern menswear is as refreshing as a mid-July swim: rejuvenating, relaxing, and invigorating all at once.
Followers of fashion know that menswear is best understood through its subtleties. Classic staples are defined by nuances: quality tailoring, artisan material, and original patterns distinguish innovative looks from the mainstream. Jones’s jackets and shorts lend themselves to avant-garde imagery; icy blues glimmer against deep indigo backgrounds, bringing to mind moonlight over calm waters.
While Jones is first and foremost a designer, his curatorial skills are impressive in their own right. His resume is dotted with successful partnerships ranging from fellow fashion brands like Nike to an unlikely link up with Technogym. A predecessor of the Beachwear Capsule might be Spring 2023’s California Couture, a collaboration with American designer Eli Russell Linnetz (ERL) that featured cannage patterns and recycled ocean polyester. The Beachwear Capsule fine tunes these techniques as it delves further into sustainable fashion, cutting playful silhouettes with effortless elegance.
Highlights of the collection include the Mini Gallop Sling Bag, a compact interpretation of Saddle codes that features an adjustable nylon strap and CD aluminum buckle. Fashioned from grey gained calfskin, the versatile bag is a refined addition to seaside adventures. On the apparel side, the Cannage Knit Sleeveless T-Shirt stands out as a contemporary casual look to match with swim trunks or pants from the season. Whichever item hangs in your closet, it’s sure to make sustainability synonymous with style.
Learn more about the Beachwear Capsule at Dior.
