“I get so bored of that term ‘streetwear,’”Jones said in the interview. “You wear clothes in the street, so everything’s streetwear. You can wear a couture gown down the street and that turns it into streetwear.” Though “streetwear” has perhaps come to signal a certain aesthetic more so than literally meaning “clothes you wear on the street,” it does make sense that the term has become redundant.
Jones continued to use the example of one of his current favorite designers, UNDERCOVER’s Jun Takahashi. Dubbed the “sorcerer of fashion” by the New York Times, Takahashi’s punk-infused label veers between avant-garde fashion and the aforementioned streetwear label.
“His work is fashion. I think it’s wrong to put that in the bracket of ‘streetwear’ — it’s just good design,” Jones said. “It’s 2018. You’ve got to be realistic about what people wear.”
The artistic director, who is said to have brought streetwear to Louis Vuitton, makes a solid point. In an era where almost everything can be deemed streetwear — even Wikipedia got in on the action — it’s become a somewhat meaningless term. In the Highsnobiety interview, Jones also talks about his new stint at Dior and the brand’s appeal.
“There’s something utilitarian about Dior,” he says. “It’s a little bit romantic I guess, but in a very sporty way.”
Read the full interview here.