At the Dior Summer 2025 Men’s Show on Friday, 28 June, South African artist Hylton Nel’s giant ceramic cats took centre stage during the prestigious Paris Fashion Week.
British menswear designer and artistic director of Dior Men, Kim Jones, drew from his visit to Hylton’s eclectic home in the Klein Karoo when creating his latest ready-to-wear collection.
Apart from the larger-than-life feline sculptures that decorated the runway, Hylton’s art came to the fore in quirky motifs, playful patterns and ceramic fastenings in the details of the designs.
Hylton, currently residing in Caltizdorp, has had over 50 years of experience working with clay and glazes to invent his own distinctive visual aesthetic.
In a recent Instagram post, Dior shares how Hylton’s dedication to his life-long work and unique style inspired the latest menswear collection.
Dior captioned the post, “Astonishing guests arriving at Friday’s Dior Summer25 show, the outsized depictions of animals, primarily cats, that populated the runway was the first visual indication of Kim Jones Studio’s association with Hylton Nel, whose output and aesthetic inspired the collection.
“As the South African artist discusses how it feels having his work inform the fashion sphere, we take a look at how small ceramic creations were reinterpreted on a gigantic scale.”
Watch the video below:
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An Instagram user with the username, misslucybeeden also took to her Instagram page and tagged the ceramic artist in a post that was captioned, “Ooh, I just know that something good is going to happen- Kate Bush, Cloudbusting.”
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Compiled by Jan-Hendrik De Villers
First published by Cape Town etc
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