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Maria Grazia Chiuri’s star-studded Dior show takes Paris Fashion Week on a sensory dance

Actress and global icon Angelababy, Christian Dior's first 'ambassador' in China, took her seat at the brand's show in Paris on Monday. Photo: AFP

Christian Dior led Paris Fashion Week on a sensual dance on Monday with a spectacular show woven around a new modern dance piece by choreographer Sharon Eyal to kick off the nine-day extravaganza.

Icily restrained models brushed past writhing dancers in a performance specially created by the acclaimed Israeli in a fog of mist and falling paper petals.

Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri said that using dance was “an act of liberation” to break free from the catwalk corset.

She said she wanted to replicate dance’s “rigorous discipline and extreme freedom” in a striking collection full of flesh tones and nifty headwear.

Pirouetting deftly from Martha Graham-style robes fit for Greek goddesses to elongated tutus and hip-hop tank tops, the Italian blurred the lines between ready-to-wear and haute couture.

 

Chiuri, a committed feminist and the first woman to lead the fabled French house, said her clothes were not about “bodily perfection but about flexibility and strength of movement”.

She also insisted that like each dancer, every look was individual.

“It is about liberty. There are none of the sequences you usually get in fashion shows; each look is for each model,” she said.

Channelling the ghosts of dance greats such Isadora Duncan and Pina Bausch, Chiuri said she was trying to capture the “powerful explosion of the female imagination”.

 

The show – held in a specially built auditorium at the Longchamps racecourse on the edge of Paris – was a hymn to the carnal and the fleshily human, she said.

“These days everything seems virtual, but we do things by hand in our workshops,” Chiuri said.

“All the floral printing the tie-dye is done by hand, it’s couture, it’s not industrial.”

Misty Instagram queens

 
 

With all the billowing dry ice, the designer also wanted to frustrate the front-row Instagram queens who spend their time snapping the shows rather than looking at the clothes.

“People miss the moment because they are spending their time taking photos with their phones,” she said.

People miss the moment because they are spending their time taking photos with their phones. I wanted them to experience a show differently ... to feel it
Maria Grazia Chiuri, designer, Christian Dior

“I wanted them to experience a show differently ... to feel it.

“It is dance and a fashion show – it is not a traditional catwalk experience at all.”

Even so Chiuri – who is known for her sharp eye for accessories – appeared to have hit the social media bullseye with her skin-tone square front-window sunglasses and “CD” (for Christian Dior) belt buckles that were being shared on Instagram within minutes.

The designer began with typically austere and ethereal monochrome black and white tulle dresses before sending out a shimmering run of skin-tone looks followed by muted greens, greys, ivory and navy blues.

Fishnet and embroidered dresses and tights ran through a sizeable slice of the collection that was as also strong on classily muted florals, tie-dye and restrained ethnic edging.

The woman who has helped make the French beret hip again created a new feather-light version for spring and summer as well as more tightfitting skull caps with British hat designer Stephen Jones, also wrapping her models heads in two rounds of taupe-coloured ribbon.

Chiuri finished the show by giving the classic 1950s New Look Dior fitted jacket a radical chic upgrade, matching it with combat trousers and even bleached denim trousers.

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Chinese actress and star Angelababy – Dior’s first ambassador in China – took a front-row seat at the brand’s show to enjoy the well-choreographed presentation of the designer’s collection