As the lights went down at Dior’s AW25 show, guests were transported to another era. Comets flew across the jet-black set, a pterodactyl-like creature flying across the room. Asteroids were suspended, weightlessly floating above lava-swirling floors, before ice-caps illuminated the dark space.
Maria Grazia Chiuri had taken us back to the beginning of time. Or was it an apocalyptic vision of the future? Or perhaps, keeping us guessing was the point. It was a dramatic setting for clothes that were seemingly timeless; not belonging to any particular period, instead fusing details from centuries-old fashions with the contemporary sensibilities.
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The designer cited Virginia Woolf's queer classic Orlando, as a key reference, as well as Gianfranco Ferré, who was artistic director of Dior from 1989 to 1996. John Galliano also influenced the collection, with Chiuri resurrecting his best-selling J’adore Dior t-shirt.
A continuation to the couture collection she showed in January, the historical and the modern collided. There were lots of crinoline dress silhouettes, while the aforementioned J’Adore Dior tees were layered under bodices, or styled with leather britches and an ermintrude bolero; Knight’s armour was recreated in leather, worn over an intricately woven lace shirt.
There was also a distinct gender fluidity that ran throughout the collection, the Orlando influence providing a new perspective for the Dior woman. Pelisse jackets were paired with bustiers, while white shirts, which for Chirui are ‘the founding element of an outfit freed from gender stereotypes’ ran throughout. Many were embellished with exaggerated ruffles — ‘the Orlando ruff’ — around the collar and down the front; some were layered beneath bodices; others were oversized and some were done in sheer organza with statement cuffs.
For Chiuri, it was an invitation to be true to oneself. ‘Fashion is a vector of transformation,’ the show notes read. ‘Each collection is a construction, a project steeped in fantasy. An awareness. An invitation to use fashion to be yourself.’
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