There was quite the formidable line-up on Dior’s front row. Beside the usual celebrities (Rosamund Pike, Jennifer Garner, Elizabeth Debicki, to name three, the big houses no longer fly in a handful but almost a plane-full), sat two presidents’ wives (one real) and one royal.
Queen Sonja of Norway sat next to Brigitte Macron. Natalie Portman, a Dior campaign model who played Jackie Kennedy in an Oscar-nominated turn in 2016, completed the power sandwich.
Between her and Madame Macron was Bernard Arnault, one of the world’s richest men and chairman and CEO of LVMH. A couple of seats further down was his daughter Delphine, CEO of Dior.
Appropriately, this was a collection about power and athleticism - let’s not forget Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s creative director, spent her few spare moments this summer designing Olympic Opening Ceremony outfits for Lady Gaga and Celine Dion. She said she’d been inspired by Wonderwomen through the ages and Amazons.
The multi-disciplinary artist Sagg Napoli, who features archery in her work, opened the show by taking a futuristic-looking bow and arrow to the catwalk and firing arrows from one end to a target at the other.
The catwalk was so long, that from where I sat it was impossible to see how accurate her aim was. Suffice to say, she was very nervous ahead of the performance. ‘She’s young and this is her first time doing anything like this,’ said Chiuri. After that insight, we all felt a little apprehensive.
What do power-conferring clothes look like on the Dior catwalk? Sporty and stretchy: the collection featured several silk bodies, one beaded, one stripy, all with asymmetrical necklines and all, Chiuri noted, key to her notion of what makes a woman feel in control sartorially; ‘It all comes down to comfort and movement’.
But those were just the basics – if a silk-woven Dior body can ever be described as basic. Criss-crossing necklines and backs featured strongly. Dresses had the ease of swimwear, even at night, when the lightest looking, sparkly mesh-fringed skirts, tulle and pleats swung down the catwalk.
Go faster stripes, a leather motor-cross jacket in a stand out shade of red, lace-up-the-leg boxing boots and body protectors added to a largely monochrome collection that has, temporarily perhaps, traded Dior’s romantic femininity for something much bolder.
Chiuri’s collections are always fascinating for the way they reference Dior’s weighty past, while thoroughly updating it. A case in point is Christian Dior’s Amazon Dress from his 1951-2 winter collection – a classic wasp-waisted Dior silhouette that looks as elegant as it is constricting. For Chiuri, the challenge is to interpret Dior elegance for a modern audience.
There are echoes of that dress in a camel trench dress, a black silk faille coat and more distantly, in the tailored trouser-suits which featured deconstructed short sleeved versions of Dior’s most famous design, the Bar jacket. If you want a summation of why Chiuri’s reign at Dior is so successful it’s these pieces which manage to be recognisably Dior and yet utterly 2024.
And of course there are the bags and these were certifiable bullseyes, as you’d hope from a creative director who started out as an accessories designer.
The Lady Dior is now re-imagined as something sportier, squishier and often slung across the back. There are bags that look like holsters and a cute, fringed take on an archer’s quiver. These are not just Dior’s bread and butter, but as Chiuri points out, ‘the means by which so many women today add attitude to their outfits’.
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