Joe Locke Feels Right at Home in Dior

We've never had so much television. As the digital stream breaks its banks, every show of every genre of every grade is available someplace, somewhere, in the nervous system of your smart TV. That means a lot of it is drowned out. Good stuff, too. But thankfully, that was never the case for Heartstopper, the coming-of-age Netflix series that treats queer love as a surprise – and a pleasant one at that. So successful it is that its bright young thing, Joe Locke, has seen his own star rise alongside the very fresh Rotten Tomatoes aggregate.

That brings the 18-year-old to Dior. At the maison's Sylvanian tribute to its founder's really quite lovely holiday homes, Locke was a guest on the front row. Which is shorthand for 'made it!' by most standards. The ceremony of it all isn't lost on Locke either. "I see fashion as a form of pure art, because it's exhibited right there on the human body," he tells Esquire on a balmy Paris Friday afternoon from his hotel room. "So to be able to view this art, at this top level, it's such an honour."

Pierre Mouton

Since creative director Kim Jones took the wheel at Dior in 2018, the label really has doubled down on its creative pedigree. Most collections have seen a partnership with a leading artist of some kind, like a neo-Tokyo crossover with Hajime Sorayama in 2018. Or the deep space Fall collection with the patron saint of New York's East Village, Kenny Scarf. Or, most recently, the parade of LA's insomniac party boys with Venice renaissance dude ERL. Locke is right. This is art.

But that doesn't mean Dior loses its sense of self. "When I think of Dior, I think of classic, clean silhouettes mixed with sporty tailoring," says Locke. "I love how Kim has brought a sense of modernity and youthfulness to the menswear lines since he became the artistic director." The actor refers to his own look for that day: an ivory sweater vest made of panels that reveal just enough torso pre-7pm, and a pair of Chantilly-soft trousers. It is classic, and it is sporty. No two adjectives could better describe the Jones administration at Dior. "The outfit I'm wearing really embodies that. It really feels like me."

Charlie Spring, Heartstopper's protagonist, and the character that shot Locke to fame, would take a different tack at a runway show though. "He'd probably want the most fashionable jumper possible, but still just a jumper," says Locke. "He'd stick to his roots!" Which, coincidentally, is exactly what Dior is doing.