(Paris) The house of Dior extended its moment of Olympic glory by lining up an athletic, modern and technological collection, all in black and white, for its spring/summer 2025 show in Paris on Tuesday, before Saint Laurent in the evening.
The common thread of this two-tone show was the figure of the Amazon, a tribute to the dress of the same name designed by Christian Dior in 1951 and a mythological figure of a powerful woman.
Dresses, blouses and tops bare one shoulder and cover the other. Asymmetry becomes the rule, bringing a very 2000s touch that will please the youngest customers, as this trend has been stretching since 2020.
THE sportswear ends up with jerseys, motorcycle bombers and parachute pants, strapped and zipped in a very elaborate way.
The artistic director of the women’s lines, Maria Grazia Chiuri, says she wants to “summarize the meaning of the garment, as if each model could speak and reveal the work that precedes the construction of each piece.”
The result is a resolutely graphic collection that plays on the contrast between black and white. The “Miss Dior” logo, increasingly omnipresent in the brand’s creations, is exaggeratedly central, stretched to the extreme almost to form a series of lines.
Some evening dresses with a more precious spirit appear in flesh-colored veiling or beading, like a veil ” nude » also inspired by the figure of the Amazons, a tribe of women with a matriarchal functioning.
Also note the disappearance of the heel, replaced in this version of the mobile, powerful, even dominant woman, by flat, flexible thigh-high boots.
Archery
PHOTO JOHANNA GERON, REUTERS
The collection is athletic, modern and technological, and all in black and white.
Dior has been given an unrivalled platform during the Paris Olympics this summer, with its parent company LVMH serving as a premium partner of the event.
During the opening ceremony, Celine Dion made her big comeback to singing in a Dior dress with sparkling pearls, while Lady Gaga was wrapped in a black and pink outfit in the cabaret spirit and Aya Nakamura in a mini gold dress with a “J’adore” aesthetic (a perfume from the brand).
To extend the moment, Chiuri had asked SAGG Napoli, an artist who uses archery in her work, to perform in the show space on Tuesday.
His performance, shooting an arrow along the entire length of the 150m podium, set the pace for the parade, bathed in deafening Italian techno.
In the front row, France’s “first lady” Brigitte Macron, actresses Natalie Portman and Rosamund Pike, singers Aya Nakamura, Yseult and Jisoo watched in admiration as she emptied her quiver in a very assertive manner.
But these feats do not make the luxury giant forget the inexorable global slowdown. LVMH announced in July a 14% drop in its net profit in the first half, to 7.26 billion euros, “in a climate of economic and geopolitical uncertainty.”
In the process, a new general manager, Benedetta Petruzzo, who came from Miu Miu, was recruited in September to keep the flagship company afloat during the storm.
The young designer Kévin Germanier, seen at the Olympic Games, continued the festivities with a collection that was as always very colorful and beaded in a refreshing “cocktail stick” spirit and always in upcycled materials.
“Humour and a sense of difference are important in this profession,” insists the designer, recalling that he “makes dresses with feathers and sequins. We’re not trying to cure a disease, so everything’s fine.”