The Dior Common Thread podcast series represents a fascinating new avenue for exploring the collaborations initiated by Kim Jones since his arrival at Dior. Each episode will present a compelling encounter with one of the inspiring figures who have participated in his endlessly original reinventions.

In conversation with Ed Tang, each recounts their unique experience and shares their singular vision, providing an immersive new window into the world of Dior Men.

Creative daring drives the House’s momentum today more than ever, and the Dior Common Thread podcast series delves into the collaborations instituted by Kim Jones. For Autumn-Winter 2021-2022, the Artistic Director invited the acclaimed painter Peter Doig to collaborate with him on both the scenography for the runway show and the collection itself, along with a corresponding ski capsule. They worked together closely; the artist’s participation being at the very heart of the design team’s creative processes. The result was one of the most visually enriching partnerships between a designer and a contemporary artist.

Peter Doig was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1959. He moved with his family to Trinidad in 1962 and then Canada in 1966. In 1979 he moved to London to study at Wimbledon School of Art, followed by Saint Martin’s School of Art from 1980-83, which he describes as an extraordinary, formative period in his life. He did his MA at Chelsea School of Art from 1989-90. Since 2002, he has been living in Trinidad, where he paints and has raised his three children. He is also a professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany.

Doig’s work is figurative, taking from childhood memories, photographs, postcards and movie scenes, but his technique and layering of colors and forms is conceptual and defies categorization. American critic Calvin Tomkins described Doig as “a virtuoso of the unpredictable” and his cryptic, dreamlike tableaux, along with his wide-ranging interests and involvement with music, cinema and sport, make him hard to pin down. He has exhibited in the world’s most important museums and his paintings feature in many major public collections.

Here, Ed Tang and Peter Doig talk about the intricate, intimate process that resulted from Kim Jones’s invitation. The two established an instinctive creative bond, with the artist being invited to take part in design meetings, share ideas, and witness the many processes which go into building a collection. The forms of a pair of 1950s cinema speakers belonging to him would be integrated into the runway scenography. Additionally, he was inspired by a 1948 photograph of Monsieur Dior himself in a lion costume and decided to base the show invitation on it, as well as incorporating the feline motif in several designs.

He discusses the passion he has for skiing, the recent exhibition he had of new works in Zermatt, and the conceptual journey he has had expressing his love for the sport in artistic terms. The artist describes himself as someone without one homeland, having lived in so many places, and he discusses his complex relationships with the places in which he grew up and has called home. He also reminisces about his time as a student in 1980s London and the lifelong friendships he formed with figures in fashion, art and music.

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