This is an edition of the newsletter Show Notes, in which Samuel Hine reports from the front row of the global fashion week circuit. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
In Paris, two under-the-radar creative directors are on the move.
First, on Friday, Dior men’s footwear designer Thibo Denis announced he was leaving the brand after six years. The movement of studio hands—compared to capital-CD creative directors—isn’t typically newsworthy. It’s rare for understudy designers to have any profile at all. But Thibo (how he’s known to friends and colleagues) is one of the industry’s ultimate not-so-secret weapons, an incognito shoe savant who nonetheless has over 100K followers on Instagram. Though his announcement didn’t address his future plans, Thibo is said to be heading to Louis Vuitton. For now, he declined to comment, as did a Louis Vuitton representative.
At the risk of stating the obvious, footwear is one of the most important product categories in menswear. (How many pairs of sneakers do you own vs. handbags, suits, overcoats?) And Thibo is one of the most important names in footwear. In his six years working under Kim Jones at Dior, the Frenchman developed a reputation for his unpretentious but obsessive approach to shoe design. The artist and designer Eli Russell Linnetz of ERL, who co-designed a collection for Dior with Jones in 2022, remembers meeting in Thibo someone who was “so generous with his creativity and his time.” “Many people who work in design and production, it’s their job to tell you no,” says Linnetz. “Thibo is the exception. His job is to expand your world. He is always in support of the creative, and always pushing the boundaries.”
A designer once told me that it’s incredibly difficult to come up with new ideas in footwear, by which he meant everything has been done already. With Jones, Thibo introduced a buffet of original shoes that spliced Dior’s signature codes with time-tested silhouettes to create models that looked fresh, like the translucent monogram-covered B23 high-top, a proven commercial smash. Linnetz and Thibo pushed the MO even further by taking a pumped-up ’90s skate shoe shape and added the hardware and detailing from the iconic Lady Dior bag, essentially creating a thrashable bourgeois purse-shoe. “I have such an insane passion for skate shoes, and to meet someone with the same enthusiasm was so special,” says Linnetz. Thibo’s alchemy took the sneaker world to new dimensions of hype when, alongside Jones, he masterminded one of the biggest footwear drops ever in 2020’s internet-breaking Air Dior collab.
Linnetz and others who have worked with Thibo hailed his sense of timing. Two years after Air Dior, when the sneaker bubble was bursting, Dior dropped an ultra-luxe Birkenstock collaboration that redefined the once-dorky cork-soled clog as a rarefied fashion grail. All of a sudden, the fashion set traded in their trainers for Birks. Dior men’s footwear continues to lead the way. In January, just as low-profile, barely-there loafers were entering the menswear conversation, the Dior men’s runway was flooded with dainty ballet flats. At last month’s show, out came wood clog-engineer boot hybrids. I didn’t know I needed such a thing, but I’ve been obsessed with the idea ever since.
“Thibo is such an avid researcher and deep consumer of culture that he’s able to really just listen to what that moment in time needs,” says Linnetz. “He works hard to understand where things are going.” His friends attribute Thibo’s drive and curiosity to the fact that he’s self-taught. He didn’t go to fashion school; his first industry job was an internship with international fashion PR firm KCD in the early aughts. But he was obsessed with hip-hop and skateboarding and the burgeoning men’s runway fashion scene, and took an apprenticeship at an Italian footwear factory. Freelance footwear design jobs led to a gig with the then-Dior Homme designer Kris Van Assche, who brought Thibo to the house in 2015.
During his tenure, Thibo documented his behind-the-scenes process on his personal Instagram, posting prototype 3-D printed derbies and unreleased Dior x Denim Tears sneakers alongside the copious fit pics of a true fashion enthusiast. Careful to never show his face, Thibo offered rare access to a generally opaque creative process, elevating his work while remaining behind the scenes. “It's something very spontaneous even if it's quite thoughtful. It takes me three minutes a day and I love doing it,” he told GQ France of his Instagram. Which is where, following Thibo’s announcement, several Dior collaborators expressed their admiration. “What a run,” said the painter Peter Doig, who has lent his artwork to several Dior projects. “It was inspiring working with you and witnessing conversations and thoughts becoming objects… with function!” Shawn Stussy put it simply: “Thank you for your service soldier…”
The rumored internal transfer means LVMH clearly knows that Thibo has a golden touch that they don’t want competitors to get a hold of. He’s expected to work with Pharrell at Louis Vuitton, though the exact scope of his position will surely be revealed soon—maybe on his Instagram!
There’s more: Idris Balogun of Winnie is adding another stamp to his passport. The Tom Ford alum, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in London and who most recently lived in Vicenza, Italy, where Winnie is based, is moving to Paris, where he’s the new head of menswear at Lacoste. Balogun started in May, and will be putting Winnie on hold to focus on his new gig, according to a representative. At Winnie, founded in 2019, Balogun developed a poetic, intelligent design language that brings to mind an American preppy’s journey of sartorial self-discovery through the heartland of European fashion.
At Lacoste, the 31-year-old will work with new design director Pelagia Kolotouros, a Calvin Klein and Adidas veteran who was hired to shape a cohesive vision at the French tennis juggernaut, from the premium fashion collections down to the famous pique polos. The green crocodile has had a runway line for nearly two decades; it was launched by a young Frenchman with a taste for low-key luxury named Christophe Lemaire. But as with any brand best known for one thing (polo shirts and tennis shorts) that also does another thing (runway fashion), Lacoste faces a tricky balancing act. There’s more than enough luxury clothing coming out of Parisian ateliers. Kolotourus and Balogun’s challenge is to create desirable (and expensive) Lacoste products that hold up on the runway but which don’t stray too far from the brand’s sporty identity and lengthy heritage.
In a recent phone call, Balogun told me his backhand needs work. What he does have that Lacoste clearly wants is the considered eye of a seasoned tailor, having cut his teeth on Savile Row before joining Christopher Bailey’s Burberry and then Tom Ford. Suiting sounds like an early focus. “Lacoste has been doing some pretty interesting things in tailoring thus far, and I want to come in and help take it to the next level,” Balogun said. At Winnie, Balogun makes elegant, contemporary menswear that just looks right, guided by a research process that takes him through the work of the jazz poet Ted Joans one season and Bad Brains the next. His thoughtfulness has earned him comparisons to Grace Wales Bonner, another young designer animating menswear with unique cultural references.
Can Balogun replicate Bonner’s success—making sportswear for Adidas—at France’s biggest athletic brand? Though he doesn’t play much, Balogun is well aware that tennis is having a “huge moment” right now, and he’s eager to harness this energy at a place that’s inextricable from the history of tennis attire. (Rene Lacoste invented the pique tennis polo back in 1933.) “I love the idea of giving tennis this edge,” he said, citing the deeply compelling dirtbag tennis style created by Challengers costume designer Jonathan Anderson. “With Challengers, I was like, man, this is the perfect moment to step in. To continue this bad boy tennis kind of thing. I think it’s interesting to play with the punk tennis mix because the sport has been so highbrow for a long time.” Lacoste’s next runway show will be held on October 1 in Paris.
With so many design studios currently vacant—Chanel, Givenchy, Dries Van Noten, and Tom Ford, following Monday morning’s announcement that Ford successor Peter Hawkings is riding off into the sunset—the industry is in a state of minor suspense. For now, at least, Thibo and Balogun are ready to get started.
Update 7/24/24: After publishing, a representative for Idris Balogun clarified that Balogun was putting Winnie on hold.
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