“This collection is defined by a desire to take Dior in a new direction, to turn it upside down,” he claims. His plan: to write “a new narrative”. In the Musée Rodin, guests flitted to and fro through the waterfall of a hanging garden, composed of hundreds of flowers with fluorescent and surrealist colors. Flowers still inspire the designer, but their inclusion is made of something entirely different. Say goodbye to pastel shades and corolla proportions; Raf Simons has decided to experiment a bit with Christian Dior’s fashion. The idea is to transfigure Dior’s DNA by playing with artificiality and reality, the past and the future. In this way, he’s releasing a reinterpretation of the New Look that, through the lens of this dialectic, becomes a dialogue between two modernities that are decidedly distant in their expression. He doesn’t want “you to know exactly where these women come from, nor where they are, but that they exist in a space of transformation, where anything seems possible.”
The “tailleur-bar” was imagined by Christian Dior in 1947; he presented it at his first haute-couture runway show. This year, the label’s classic tricks are being dusted off, while the DNA of the brand’s codes is being reassembled or dissected with the sole objective of obtaining new and never-before-seen silhouettes. One noteworthy piece is a “tailleur-bar” with inverse proportions that still sports pleats. A skirt may not be paired with the bar jacket anymore, but pleats still make their way subtly onto the back. The bar jacket’s tails have also been removed, while the waist is elevated on the sides. On the back of the jackets: floral prints cut into strips and composed in an architectural way. It’s a meticulous work with accordion pleats that is reminiscent of his paintings where the motif either appears or disappears through the movements of the body. This conception is anchored in a modern, mysterious, and contemporary silhouette, the reflection of new ideas. This is “Trans Dior” that, beyond respect for the past, reminds us that the future waits for no one.
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