Fashion cheers Chiuri’s magical Christian Dior haute couture debut
If there were any doubters that Maria Grazia Chiuri was right for Dior there can be none now after a breathtaking debut haute couture collection blew away critics
One dreamlike ball gown after another trailed through the enchanted woodland maze she created for the show complete with a wish tree draped with charms and lights.
Staggering detailing built from sober, almost clerical, robes at the start of the show to heart-stoppers where a field full of poppies seemed to be trapped like butterflies in layers of tulle.
New York Times critic Vanessa Friedman tweeted “sheer romance” as the show ended and described one pleated gold lame dress veiled in black as “Titania’s gown” after the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Her colleague Elizabeth Paton was also taken with it, tipping it for Oscars night. Others fawned over a “magical” series of gowns made from layered pleated tulle which Chiuri contrasted with Renaissance-style bustiers.
The designer – who broke up her three-decade-long partnership with Pierpaolo Piccioli at Valentino to move to Dior – told AFP that she had dived into the archives of the label’s famously superstitious founder Christian Dior for inspiration.