How the women of dance music have taken over high fashion – Culture

It’s an astute observation: during the presentation of the upcoming SS2020 collections at Paris Fashion Week, a multitude of major fashion houses debuted collections nodding to various aspects of rave and electronic culture. Versace paid homage to the late Prodigy frontman Keith Flint with models donning spiked hair and a host of leather, denim and leopard print outfits. Raf Simons tipped his hat to rave culture and especially to Belgium’s R&S Records with an outfit featuring the pioneering label’s logo emblazoned on an oversized white t-shirt.

While names familiar to the electronic world have routinely tiptoed on the outer edges of high fashion – mainly soundtracking and DJing at runway events – it seems only now that the high guards of iconic houses are beginning to warmly welcome artists in, not only as muses, but also as designers in their own right.

Chicago native Honey Dijon is perhaps house music’s most perfect offering to take on high fashion. Known for her dual wielding of sharp technical mastery and also for her impossibly expansive breadth of musical expertise gained from her New York upbringing, the parallels between her expert music curation and her taste for elegant and high fashion simplicity seem unmistakable.

“Art, music and fashion was always intertwined for me. I don’t separate creative expression,” she states. “Gender non-conforming and non-binary clubbers are the ones who always [take] risks with clothing to express themselves in colorful and impactful ways.”

Already well established as a favored choice DJ for high fashion houses like Dior and Burberry, Honey Dijon has now ascended to her own role as a designer with the announcement that came earlier this year of her upcoming collaboration line with Japanese label, Comme des Garçon. The co-built brand will be appropriately called Honey Fucking Dijon and will debut with a collection of t-shirts and bags designed specifically for DJs.

“As a trans woman of colour I’d never imagined that this would be possible,” Honey wrote in her post around the announcement, which also included a thank you to President of Comme des Garçon International, Adrian Joffe. “Thank you for allowing me to represent my culture, community and love of house music. I am truly honoured.”