The Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule: Following Christian Dior’s Footsteps
To welcome the new year, Dior tapped a prolific Japanese sculptor to launch the Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule. Laden with forward-thinking garments and unabashedly joyous colours, the capsule offers a bold new attitude courtesy of Otani Workshop. To clarify, the “Otani Workshop” moniker refers to just a singular artist, Shigeru Otani. Known for his ceramic portraiture, he’s become a leading voice in the Japanese art scene. The bulging ceramic figures and animated vases are equal parts whimsical and unnerving — yet, they’re entirely eye-catching. Dior leans on Otani’s more playful motifs, rejuvenating silhouettes with anthropomorphic designs and off-the-cuff fonts. For all its out-of-left-field spunk, the collection is best viewed as a part of a longstanding Dior tradition. Since the early days of Christian Dior (the person, not the label), conceptual artwork has formed the basis of fashion design.
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Before his last name became synonymous with haute couture, a twenty-something Christian Dior spent his days at Galerie Jacques Bonjean. The gallery was a creative refuge on Rue la Boétie, opened as a partnership between Christian Dior and Jacques Bonjean. (Bonjean would later became a prominent Parisian art dealer.) “Our ambition was to have shows there centred on the masters we admired most: Picasso, Braque, Matisse, and Dufy, and the painters we knew personally and already held in high esteem,” Dior said of the gallery in 1956. A 1931 display of Salvador Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory is among the gallery’s most prolific.
Though his fashion career quickly eclipsed his tenure as a gallerist, this brief period laid the foundation for Dior’s creative engine. Rising through the ranks of fashion, Dior proved his “admiration for the masters” was genuine. Working under Robert Piguet (whose fellow mentees include Givenchy and Balmain), Dior said he learned “the mysterious means by which an idea is transformed into a dress.” For Christian Dior, clothing was always conceptual: like the masters he admired, Dior translated immaterial ideas into tangible work. Now, with the Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule, this notion lives on.
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule
Naturally, the Dior & Otani Workshop Capsule has a clear concept behind the clothing. It reads like a love letter to fashion’s playful side, encouraging individuality and self-expression in all forms. Vivid greens channel an unbridled creative energy. The tailoring is both passionate and easy, shaking off the dreary gauze of winter. Known to Dior as “the colour of life,” deep reds saturate sweaters and pants; an almost defiant joy radiates from top to bottom.
Throughout the collection, you’ll notice a flash of green on various hems and sleeves. The cheeky design is a green monster by the name of Tanilla (after Otani). Dancing across multiple looks, Tanilla evokes the spirited verve of a plush toy. Thanks to a personable silhouette, Tanilla positions each garment in the casually-confident realm of streetwear. These clothes are of the highest quality, to be sure, but they aren’t afraid to have fun.
The collaboration is worthy effort by Dior’s Creative Director, Kim Jones. Sleek hems, adorned with quirky Otani Workshop motifs, straddle the line between avant-garde and accessible. Thanks to Jones’ collaborative instincts, Dior has retained its enviable position at crossroads of fashion and design. Multiple team-ups keep the brand current without sacrificing the high quality we’ve come to expect. In 2023 alone, Jones reimagined Hennessy’s sculpted casing and spun ocean debris into fine garments with nonprofit Parley for the Oceans. Now, teaming up with the innovative Japanese sculptor, Dior brings high-level concepts into a chic capsule collection. The collection reminds us that, at its core, fashion is an art form.
