SHAWN STÜSSY and Dior continue to collaborate, designing this time round an exclusive surfboard that celebrates the American fashion designer’s roots as a surfer. Limited to 100 numbered editions, the exclusive piece epitomises the sunny spirit of the Fall 2020 Dior Men’s Show presented in Miami earlier this year.
“Shawn Stüssy is one of my great heroes, he started out as a surfer, making his own boards and painted his name on them. It was quite natural for me to ask him to work together on the very first Dior surfboard,” said Kim Jones, Artistic Director of Dior Men’s Collection. The collaborative surfboard has been designed in the Gun shape, which is recognisable for its streamlined silhouette and features a special fin that facilitates the drive – even in the most powerful of waves.
The Dior surfboard designed by Shawn Stüssy.
The strength and precision of Stüssy’s gestures recall a sculptor’s savoir-faire, as well as that of an architect, which he fancies himself to be. “For Dior, I wanted to create a streamlined board with elongated curves and subtle house colours, that seems to dance on the ocean,” he said. Adorned with the hypnotic Dior signature collage from The Fall 2020 Dior Men’s Collection, along with Stüssy’s unprecedented rendering of the iconic bee, this grey and pastel blue board highlights and honours revisited house codes.
The Dior surfboard designed by Shawn Stüssy.
Finished by UWL Workshop in La Rochelle, France, the surfboards benefit from state-of-the-art expertise and knowledge. Each board requires 72 hours of minute handiwork, a technique that contributes towards making them a work of art – for both surfers and collectors alike.
There is currently no set release date for the surfboard, but we anticipate that it will be Dior’s most exclusive release of the summer.
by Rhiannon Jenkins