Escape Into Rafael Pavarotti's New Dior Men's Campaign

In July last year, Dior Men's artistic director Kim Jones and Ghanian artist Amoako Boafo released the collection they'd been working on together. Jones has a penchant for collaboration and contemporary art, and the S/S 21 menswear collection was fitting, not only as a tribute to his childhood spent travelling around Africa, but to the political atmosphere following the Black Lives Matter protests.

What was special about Jones's contribution, was its sincerity. Bringing together the savoire faire of Dior and the hand of the artist has proven to be a winning recipe for the British designer's Dior reboot, and the collaboration with Boafo would have more than likely always happened, even without the eyes of the world firmly tracking how luxury brands responded to the political fallout last summer.

Now released in a short film and photographs by image-maker of the moment Rafael Pavarotti, the collaboration is seen through new light, revived and reborn. Boafo's finger paintings, translated into intarsia knits and embroideries, find new agency in the campaign launched today; garments are set against saturated green, blue and purple backdrops, mirroring Boafo's own palette. Flower motifs taken from Boafo's wallpapers are also reminiscent of Nick Knight's shoot F is for Flowers, commissioned for A Magazine Curated by...Kim Jones to capture the designer's first collection for Dior back in 2018.

'The vibrant colours of this campaign perfectly reflect the powerful energy of the...collection. It's really a celebration of Amoako Boafo's work', Jones explains. That's the great thing about Kim Jones, he's not afraid to share the limelight, and that's what makes Dior Men's shine so bright.