Reinterpreted by Kim Jones starting with his first men’s collection for Dior, the Saddle comes to life in the expert hands of the House’s artisan leatherworkers. Let's discover #DiorSavoirFaire.
Created by Dior in 1999, the Saddle bag made its debut in the spring-summer 2000 ready-to-wear show. Its outline in the shape of a horse’s saddle, paying tribute to the equestrian world, has an unmistakable allure. Nearly twenty years after its creation – and for the first time for men – Kim Jones revisited this icon in the House’s summer 2019 collection. Made at Dior leather ateliers, in Tuscany, a few kilometres from Florence, let's watch the bag in making:
It all starts with the choosing of the full-grain black pebbled leather. The selection follows the same exacting ritual: touching, feeling, examining, observing, scrutinizing every inch. The skin needs to be perfect. Next, the craftsman cuts out the bag’s twenty-two constituent elements and tints all the edges with slightly glossy black paint. After drying for more than twenty-four hours, the “Dior” name is heat stamped on the back of the Saddle. In order to give this model its suppleness, the assembly is done in reverse and starts with the placement of the reinforcements, the zipper, the loop and the rounded yoke and the two tabs, all three arranged on the front of the bag with the aid of a pattern.
Subsequently, the sides and the base are mounted and sewn to the central parts. Using their hands, the artisan shapes the leather to create the bag’s two distinctively contoured gussets. When all the elements have been stitched together, the Saddle is turned inside out and the lining is carefully set inside. The black and gold “CD” buckle is then assembled on the wide shoulder strap in black jacquard, which, through the way it’s woven, boasts the signature “Christian Dior”. The art of detail for which the House is reputed.
Check out all the #DiorSaddle for #DiorSummer19; some available at Dior Men boutique in Suria KLCC, Malaysia.
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