Everything You Need To Know About The Dior Fall Winter 2025 Show

There Were No Artworks By Women

As veteran critic Cathy Horyn pointed out, this is the rare Dior show (since creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri took over in 2016) that didn't feature overt references or showcase artworks by women artists/artisans. Instead, the breathtaking set design this season was by none other than seminal American theatre artist and playwright Robert Wilson - you'll probably have seen oddities like animatronic prehistoric birds, rocks, craters, and icebergs popping up during the Dior show.

Virginia Woolf's Orlando Was The Main Inspiration

If you aren't familiar with this classic Woolf work, Orlando follows an Elizabethan man as he transforms into a woman over centuries. Of course, the book's long been a popular source of inspiration with designers, owing to its vivid descriptions of costumes spanning centuries, as well as themes of gender fluidity, transformation, and the blending of history and modernity; all motifs popularly cited in fashion circles.

Orlando, But Make It Modern

Just like Virginia Woolf's time-travelling protagonist, Chiuri loves a historical reference but she's a practical one; she designs for the needs of a contemporary woman. See how the Elizabethan-esque ruffles are detachable, or corsets that can be zipped up for a snatched waist (or worn loose if you're not in the mood for that).

It's Always A Conversation

Chiuri has always made it a point to be respectful of her predecessors at Dior - a trademark since her very first collection for the maison. In this collection, there were various references to the works of former Dior heads, such as John Galliano's beloved J'adore Dior slogan T-shirts (which seems to be grungily distressed this time, compared to its Y2K days).

Other Dior-isms included an emphasis on white shirts, which Chiuri sees as the "founding element of an outfit freed from gender stereotypes". In this collection, the shirts came decorated with copious amounts of ruffles - a nod to the highly sculptural work of former Dior creative director Gianfranco Ferre, who led the maison from 1989 to 1989, and was known as the "architecture of fashion".

Romanticism Meets Practicality

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s real strength this season lay in her ability to turn practical outerwear — raincoats and parkas — into elevated, luxurious pieces. She achieved this through hazy, antique-inspired prints applied to riding coats and denim suits. Chiuri also played with material expectations, where fabrics that looked heavy and bulky were surprisingly lightweight, and dresses that resembled delicate lace were actually crafted from knits.

The Looks