Show Notes: Dior Reaches For The Future
The Fall/Winter 2022 runway show gave a glimpse of how technology and traditional tailoring can fuse together.
The glitchy replicas of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring that lined the walls of Dior's Fall/Winter 2022 show venue gave the first hint of the futuristic direction that Maria Grazia Chiuri is steering the house into next season. (They were, in fact the work of Italian artist Mariella Bettineschi who reimagined the creations of Old Masters through a feminist gaze).
READ MORE: Watch The Dior F/W ’22 Show Live From Paris
Staged at the usual Dior show spot in the Tuileries Gardens, the show officially marked the start of Paris Fashion Week. Among the guests invited to the event were Rihanna (she raised temperatures in the chilly Parisian weather with her black lace negligee dress that showed off her famous baby bump and black lingerie) and Blackpink star and house ambassador Ji-Soo.
Rihanna at the Dior Fall/Winter 2022 show.
They were treated to one of Chiuri's most experimental showings since she took over the creative reins at the storied French couture house in 2016. Athletic, modern, innovative, yet very elegant, the show also saw Chiuri flirting with notions of cyborgism and working closely yet again with a fellow Italian collaborator – this time, the startup D-Air Lab.
More observations from the show below.
The opening look was a bodysuit lined with luminescent material and worn by one of Chiuri's favourite models Steinberg. Part raver, part Aeon Flux, the design was created in collaboration with D-Air Lab, makers of high-performance and inventive gear for sports and industrial use. The glow-in-the-dark details on the outfit highlighted the sinews of the human body and "shows how fashion and technology intersect" according to Dior.
Chiuri's obsession with the body was particularly obvious in the way belts and corsets made their presence felt in the show. Perforated obi-like belts were paired with fit and flare silhouettes of midi skirts and Bar jackets, worn under a denim jacket, and even wrapped the outside of a wool camel coat – giving the model a beautifully cinched form. The same attention to the torso was evident in the use of corsetry which was deftly integrated into the construction of pants and a trench coat.
Transformative designs are not a novel idea if you've been following designers such as Hussein Chalayan and Iris Van Herpen. What set Maria Grazia Chiuri's chameleonic creations apart during the show was their sense of practicality, real-life application and ergonomics. Think a gilet with inflatable shoulder pads or a deconstructed Bar jacket that could lift its peplum as it cools the wearer and came complete with an electrical control unit at the back. These were all produced with D-Air Lab – which insiders would point out invented the Antarctica Suit scientists wear in extremely cold temperatures.
Clothes as armour is an abstract idea we all have heard before. But Dior took it quite literally for the Fall/Winter 2022 show. Roping in D-Air Lab again, the Maison constructed quarterback shoulder pads, safety vests embossed with the Cannage pattern, and protective racing gloves.
A Dior show is not complete with some romantic jewels – and the Fall/Winter 2022 outing did not disappoint. The fairly simple resin pearl-encrusted headbands were a nice counterpoint to the conceptual clothes – like modern-day princess' diadems.