"There is no literal Japanese reference in this collection at all," he says. "To do a Japanese collection in Japan isn't interesting to me. We have moved on from that. The world is not so insular. Women in Japan look to European fashion, and I am fascinated by Japanese fashion. It is that tension that is interesting to me."

Instead, Simons took Tokyo to stand for a "futuristic, urban environment. When I think about Japan, I think about the fashion activity on the street. The mix of people, the urban energy; a life that happens partly outside. is a strong reference for this collection."

A Raf Simons collection is never simple to unravel, but you can guarantee a great deal of thought in every detail. It is not too much of a stretch to suppose the black sequins glued to models' eyelids were a reference to the idea of capillary dilation in Ridley Scott's film.

The Dior element underpinning this collection was the bar, the exaggerated hip which Christian Dior himself used on a jacket, here translated into waxed, zipped-up coats.

Simons wants the Tokyo event "to communicate that there is a lot of reality to this brand; that it is not only about clothes for special occasions; that it can be connected to real life, to the weather."

In leather boots and calf-length coats, the Dior models were dressed for the snow that fell on the catwalk, while the sequin polo necks they wore underneath added a touch of glamour.

Fair Isle knits were given a manga reworking, and the Lady Dior bag was supersized; the days when all it needed to hold was lipstick are long gone.

The show was staged on an enormous square catwalk, with the audience seated all around and models criss-crossing the space in all directions, at a clip.

The choice of the Kokugikan Sumo Stadium served a dual purpose. It physically locates the brand in a venue which references not only Japan's traditions, but its future: the stadium will host the boxing contests in the 2020 Olympics.

But for Simons, the essential appeal was that the cavernous space could be made to feel almost roofless. "I would have loved to have this show happen outside, in the street," he says. "This was the closest we could get, an abstraction of that."

Christian Dior was a pioneer of his time, adds Simons: "He was moving over borders, exploring different places in the world."

Christian's fascination with a Japanese aesthetic began when his mother, Madeleine, influenced by the oriental pavilions at the Universal Exposition in Paris, had the ground floor of the family home decorated with Japanese-style frescoes of white egrets against a blue sky.

When Christian became a couturier, Japanese motifs, including cherry blossom embroidery, were a recurring theme. In 1955, French ran a feature on Dior's Japanese influences, highlighting a black evening gown with an obi-style belt. That year, dancers from the Azuma Kabuki troupe attended the Paris Dior show.

The catwalk show, along with a multimedia exhibition about the history of Dior, forms the centrepiece of a Dior charm offensive in Japan.

The exhibition foregrounds historic ties between Dior and Japan, such as the three bridal outfits it made for the wedding of Princess Michiko in 1959.

Simone Noir, an employee of the Paris haute couture studio, accompanied the dresses to Tokyo. Noir reported that when the princess put on the dress, "she had a glowing complexion, scarlet lips, gleaming hair held in a headband. She looked like the heroine of a fairy tale."