Where do we come from, and where are we going?
Standing on our own feet, we board the train of life without knowing where it leads.
This is what people call fate.
A young person, full of self-belief, might say, “To hell with a life on rails! I’ll forge my own path!” They might rebel against their doctor father’s wishes. Eventually, the “Rage Against the Machine” within them peaks, leading them to smash windows at night school or ride off on a stolen motorcycle. (But why a doctor’s son? Why Yutaka Ozaki?)

Anyway, sometimes, the events we choose can lay the tracks for our destiny.

—I somehow ended up in the rowing club. In high school. A rowing club with few opponents. Only two wins. As a result, we advanced to the national championships. The eyes of university rowing club scouts, eyes, eyes. Love, shining. The gazes of passionate men turn to love… not really, but the scouts’ eyes locked onto him!

Skipping university entrance exams, he was accepted into a prestigious school. Naturally, he joined the rowing club. At the same time, he took on a traditional rowing club part-time job: working at Tokyo Disneyland’s Beaver Brothers canoe expedition! A life of part-time work.

Weekends, of course, but also weekdays were spent canoeing. Canoes that wouldn’t move forward properly without the sharp skills of the rowing club. Day after day, rowing club and canoeing. Canoeing. Canoeing. Canoeing.

Before I knew it, it was canoeing. And what was supposed to be a part-time job turned into a full-time position upon graduation. Was it a canoe, not a train, on the laid-out tracks!?

Well, this is my rather self-indulgent fantasy, but it serves as a lesson that people do, after all, choose their lives.

Now, finally, to Kris Van Assche.

The new Dior Homme was undoubtedly Christian Dior’s original form: couture. I trust someone will write about the fine silhouettes, the lines of the trousers, and the details, so I’ll omit them here. (etc.)

It was beautiful.

This is the entirety of my感動 (kandō - deep emotion), uttered with a sigh. This is the new Dior Homme.

Ah, why Kris, at Dior!

I thought this wonderful encounter was also a result of the life Kris had chosen.

One day, young Kris thought.
“I love clothes, and all the allowance my parents gave me, plus the money I saved from part-time jobs, went towards clothes. I want to build a life that makes use of this love for fashion.”

Soon after, he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. Things were going smoothly. If ever there was a smooth sailing, this was it. Young Kris, who had decided to become a designer since elementary school, not only decided but had truly chosen his life.

Then, he knocked on the door of Yves Saint Laurent, led by Hedi Slimane, and learned the art of true garment making under the master, Hedi.

Here too, Kris chose. He wanted to be involved in the creative process of the formidable Hedi (presumably).

And as Hedi forged ahead, Kris also moved to Dior Homme. Did he have any concerns about changing jobs? He didn’t consult Bakushou Mondai, nor did he register with a job-search website, of course.

However, he might have been contemplating. Soon, he would launch his own collection.

He was choosing. His life.

And the path laid out before Kris was surely leading to an open field.

That path led to Christian Dior. Dior Homme. Captivated by its beautiful sound, Kris began his exquisite collection in a former luxury hotel. To the observer, everything might have seemed perfectly in place. But this, too, was part of Kris’s life, chosen through his own struggles and joys.

Some may walk a path laid out by their parents. Others, like Kris, may find that the life they choose lays the tracks.

That is why I believe that Kris’s appointment as director of Dior Homme was merely one station on the journey of Kris’s train.

And this collection told the story of how that track, thick, beautiful, and strong, stretched onward.