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Winter’s cold edge remained strong in the City of Lights. However, that didn’t stop hundreds from turning up at the Dior Winter women’s ready-to-wear show Tuesday in Paris to see celebrities and the who’s who of fashion enter an enormous white box-like edifice situated right in the middle of Jardin des Tuileries.
As guests entered into the building, the first thing they encountered was bamboo cascading around the room forming a square shape, and also crisscrossing from the ceiling, as well as bamboo figures set in the middle of the room. The installation was devised by Indian artist Shakuntala Kulkarni, but dreamt up by Maria Grazia Chiuri, the house’s haute couture and women’s ready-to-wear creative director. Before the lights were turned down low, fanfare surrounded actors Jennifer Lawrence (wearing a deep v-neck waistcoat) and Anya Taylor-Joy as they sat together. While Maisie Williams, The Crown’s Elizabeth Debicki, Monica Barbaro from Top Gun: Maverick and Kelly Rutherford looked Dior-chic as they too sat front row. Korean actress and singer Jisoo was also in attendance.
Before the show, the backstage was abuzz with hair and makeup goings-on. Peter Phillips, Dior’s head of makeup explained that his process and inspiration for the beauty looks was generally stress-free.
“Maria Grazia does her research and she knows what she wants,” Phillips said. “This collection was a bit blurrier because, like with the set design, one thing doesn’t really have anything to do with the other. So, we talked about something unexpected. When we did the fittings there was a shelf with all the bags, and it had a weird lime green color with pink. I thought we could do something with the pink because the collection is beige, gold, and monotone with sparkle. It was like a calculated mistake to do something with the pink, and we just played around. And just like in Indian culture and [married] women wear the [bindi], my thought process was to add that dot in the corner of the eye. It’s like a rose petal.”
Every aspect of beauty was strategized for the models, from skincare to makeup. Dior’s Capture Totale Le Sérum was part of the skincare prep, while the Dior Forever Skin Glow foundation created an even tone, and the Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil 000 Universal Clear provided a simple lip option that brought out the natural color of a lip.
As the show started, silhouettes emerged from backstage with “Miss Dior” in large letters added onto the side of trench coats and pantsuits, as a type of signature manifesto. Chiuri’s focus was on the late 60s, when — as the house called it— the era “when fashion left the atelier to conquer the world” happened. It was at this time when womenswear line Miss Dior was born in 1967, eventually giving way to ready-to-wear, with the idea that fashion could be easily reproduced, under the then-creative direction of Marc Bohan and his assistant Philippe Guibourgé. The Miss Dior boutique, which opened in Paris, inspired a new way of dressing, bringing women together with different points of fashion through accessories like the scarf and through A-line silhouettes that allowed women to move in new ways without constricting.
It was a time when music, art, fashion, and architecture collided. It was also a moment when Gabriella Crespi, an artist and designer, inspired Bohan and, recently too, Chiuri, who is passionate about feminism and women’s independence.
Taking cues from Crespi, Chiuri was drawn by the fact that the late 60s brought forth a generation of women who were determined to be something through their work.
At the Fall Winter 2024 runway show, the color palette mostly stayed with your typical trench coat beige. But Chiuri also borrowed from Bohan’s range of white, orange, pink and neon green. Using gabardine and double cashmere to tell this late 60s sartorial story in the form of coats, jackets, little dresses, pants and skirts above the knee that are paired with beads and embroidery, it’s the creative director’s way of saying women’s dress this season is still conquering the world.
And if you happen to find yourself in Paris soon, visit The Galerie Dior Exhibit to get an up-close look at the costumes from Apple TV+’s original series The New Look, which goes back in time to present the life and career of Christian Dior as he established and ran his renowned couture house.
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