F  L  A  U  N  T

 The Dior tent, built each season for the show, moved out of the Rodin Museum to the nearby horse race track at the Hippodrome de Longchamp, simply because the museum ground wasn’t ample enough to fit a rectangular white painted box with enough height and width for a modern dance troupe to adequately perform. On the front of the white tent were handwritten mantras from twentieth century innovators in modern dance – Pina Bausch, Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan, Ruth Saint Denis, and dance heroine Loïc Fuller, who inspired the setting and the accouterments for the clothes on the models as they walked amongst the dancers. “Everything must come from the heart; must be lived” and “I am not interested in how people move, I am interested in what makes them move:” Pina Bausch. “The story comes from inside the Body:” Sharon Eyal. “Dance is the movement of the universe concentrated in an individual:” Isadora Duncan. These were some of the handwritten quotes from the reigning figures of modern dance that set the tone to Marua Grazia Chiuri’s collection of softer silhouettes in motion. Dresses and pantsuits that started with a stretch tank and stretch bodysuit as a base, anchored full skirts, or even tutus, worn with jackets, or as dresses, and replaced the rigid corset to allow for smoother movements. “It’s not the question of bodily perfection, but of flexibility and strength of movement,” said Sharon Eyal, a Tel Aviv based choreographer who was trained at the Batssheva Dance Company. Male and female dancers from the dance company so gracefully move around the grand stage and in between the models. The show opened with a male dancer stretching slowly to the music as the first model exited in a loose black tunic over black pants, then a white stretch ruched jumpsuit, a grey layered tank strap long dress, followed by a series of nude flared taffeta skirts and stretch long sleeve tees and black knit and tulle combo dresses and separates. The models zig-zagged in between the dancers, wearing a flawless commercial collection, many of the styles and looks already prevalent in Grazia Chiuri’s previous Dior shows. They were very prevalent among the clothes worn by the numerous clients that attended the show in head-to-toe Dior. The designer’s signature look of a new bar jacket and long flared tulle skirt came in black crêpe worn with black tights. Many of the clients who came to the show wore this similar silhouette, a few pairing it with a boat neck jacket. Choosing dance as a base allowed the designer to loosen her silhouettes, thus making the clothes look less dressy and perhaps more commercial friendly. Scattered throughout the show, unless one’s attention was totally fixed on the flawless movements of the dancers crisscrossing the black wooden floor, were the money makers. The Saddle bag, the logoed tog bag, and multiple logo shoes and most of the easy pieces bound to be commercial successes were all in attendance.

The loose silhouettes featured these larger more ominous shapes. There were many fine looks that could walk straight from runway to the street such as a nude jacket with flared short pants or a nude short sleeve slim cashmere coat with pleated skirt and long sleeve stretch tank. Toward the end of the show there were a series of faded and tied dyed denim short pants, loose jeans, and jeans jackets done in homage to urban dance but also to keep the Dior brand relevant to the critical street wear scene. Is it all for the Dior? Or must Dior have to be a revolutionary brand in terms of design – remember that the 1947 New Look was nothing short of renewing what fashion can mean for society at large? So much was spoken for the innovative approaches to modern dance by the likes of Bausch, Graham, and Duncan that a corresponding set of new ideas were needed for balance on the fashion side. Creating revolutionary fashion is an endeavor that is expected at Dior. To be a paramount and leader of fashion design above all; that too was the heritage of Dior and that heritage was missing at this show. And I also remember seeing several clients wearing black sweatshirts with the imprint – Dior(evolution).

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Photos courtesy of Julia Perie for Christian Dior