Dior at Paris Fashion Week: Monica Bellucci and Cara Delevingne glittered at the maison’s IRL haute couture runway show at Musée Rodin
- While most fashion brands went with digital events, Dior hosted two live shows – with masks and temperature checks, of course
- Maria Grazia Chiuri commissioned life-size, silk embroideries that covered all 350 square metres of the venue’s walls – reflecting the textured, tactile clothes
Dior ventured back into the real world Monday, July 5, after more than a year away, with an in-person show for its autumn/winter 2021-22 haute couture collection in Paris.
Most fashion houses opted to continue with digital shows and presentations as the couture season got under way, but Dior hosted two live shows.
In a way, it felt like an earlier time, before anyone had ever used the term “social distancing” or worn a surgical mask with Louboutin heels.
The shows took place at Dior’s favourite venue, a temporary structure in the garden of the Musée Rodin. Street photographers jostled one another outside the front gate, while invited photographers massed at the photo call within. Guests greeted one another with air kisses. Several foreign accents were proof of a return to overseas travel. There were stars: Jessica Chastain, Monica Bellucci, Cara Delevingne.
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But there were differences. Guests wore masks and had their temperatures taken at the door. Seats on the benches were spaced farther apart than usual, though that was quickly ignored, especially in the front row.
Dior’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, works frequently with female artists, and for this collection she commissioned French artist Eva Jospin to design life-size, silk-thread embroideries to cover all 350 square metres of the venue’s walls. A nod to the Sala dei Ricami in Rome’s Colonna Palace, they represented several months of handiwork by women at the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai.