Diamonds are also a guy’s best friend, and Kris Van Ache, the polite, genteel and magnificently talented Dutch designer for Dior Homme cleverly subverted the girl’s best friend adage with his Fall/Winter 2010 collection for the label. And he didn’t just stop there. With the cold and dark, warm and luxurious, soft and almost shapeless collection that was futuristic enough to be historic, Van Ache presented a whole New Man whose edges would be sharp and blunt, whose surface would be smooth and jagged, just like a diamond that every girl from Osaka to Omaha so desirously covets.

The collection then, is called ‘Coal’, and in its name is its message. Although fashion is often thought of as frivolous and vain, the Dior Homme ‘Coal’ collection underlined the fact that, if over a living body we drape a second layer of skin – be it cotton or leather or suede or satin – and call it Fashion, then inside a rock of coal is where the real gem hides. And so, what is inside becomes equally important to what is outside. At the Bercy Omnisport in Paris, the venue was an all black circular room that resembled a spaceship that had blown up in a coalmine, and the perfectly imperfect male models strode around the catwalk, in clothes that celebrated a new silhouette for men. Single and double breasted jackets that end under the derriere, like they usually do, but from the front, they taper downwards and finish off kissing the knee, so that they can be knotted up to give the outfit a multi-dimensional personality. These are going to be all the rage.

Kris had been on a holiday to India last August, and just as he returned, he designed the ‘Coal’ collection. On a closer inspection of the clothes, a strong Indian influence revealed itself. The Nehru collar, the sherwani-esque jackets, the Jodhpur-inspired pleated pants were an ode to India, but like he does season after season, Kris has reworked and reinterpreted them in his own way, and made them very much Dior Homme statements, by either combining rigour and comfort in the same piece, or by mixing a military mood with light flannels and camel hairs that exuded an ease and elegance, and were entirely free of any pomp and ostentation. All the colours used were sober-black, beige, gray and the latest to hit the catwalks, greige. Also, the immaculate and precise detailing, and the truly luxe cashmere, leather and shearling the garments were made of and moulded with, made each item as precious as a jewel.

Dior Homme has always been about fashion that very comfortably sits on the edge of irreverence, but is stylish enough to never really be gimmicky. The ‘Coal’ Collection goes one step further by adding ultra-elegance to the basket. For most women, the sexiest men are the ones who can be naughty without being dirty and sophisticated without being dull. But most of all, what every woman wants is a man who relishes adventure and in his pursuit to be thrilling, he is ready to go through the rough and tumble, because he is confident in the knowing that wherever he may emerge, he will always only shine.

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