A heatwave in early March was probably not on anyone’s bingo card for Paris Fashion Week.
Guests arriving at the Dior show in the Tuileries Garden basked in the early spring sunshine that drenched the cinematic show venue, built around the park’s octagonal basin, which was turned into a pond dotted with fake water lilies.
Inside the glass walkways, the temperature turned up several notches as the greenhouse effect kicked in. By the time the first models walked out, front row guests including Jisoo and Anya Taylor-Joy were broiling.
The freak weather in Paris makes for an interesting backdrop for the fall collections, highlighting the death of the seasonal wardrobe. Dior creative director Jonathan Anderson noted the clothes will start to arrive in stores in June. “You’re trying to show transitional wardrobes,” he said during a preview. “I wanted clothing that worked in daylight.”
Dior has held its shows at the Tuileries since 2020, after signing a partnership with the adjoining Louvre Museum to help restore one of the largest and oldest public gardens in Paris. Originally commissioned by Queen Catherine de’ Medici, it was later redesigned for Louis XIV, the Sun King, as a place to see and be seen.
Riffing on the 18th century codes that he’s turning into a hallmark of his Dior tenure, Anderson toyed with the idea of formal dressing with deconstructed frock coats, peplum jackets and bustle skirts in candied almond shades, Chantilly lace and metallic jacquards.
Shrunken blazers and lampshade skirts came in baby soft shearling, cozy knits took on sculptural shapes, and dotted Swiss ruffle skirts with long trains offered a youthful take on founder Christian Dior’s legendary Junon gown.
New this season were more straightforward entry points into the brand, such as ivory hammered silk track pants with covered bridal buttons run; jeans with ribbon embroidery, and plain robe coats worn as dresses — the kind of thing that’s already available in Dior boutiques, but was previously less visible on the runway.
“We’re going to get some things right, some things wrong, but then each thing that is working, we just keep building on top of,” Anderson said.
The spiral cage dresses from his recent couture show reappeared as clouds of soft pleated fabric, while menswear fabrics gave way to a trompe-l’oeil houndstooth print on hand-pleated jackets and coats.
He reprised his Donegal tweed take on the brand’s signature Bar jacket, but made it longer and looser, while reining in the volume of his oversized jeans. With a growing emphasis on lightness, his Dior silhouette is coming into focus, though Anderson insisted it would remain a moving target.
“I’m never going to do a formula. It’s never going to be a one-look brand, because I don’t believe in that,” he said.
“It used to be that you would have permanent lines that would carry the business, where you could just be like, ‘Here’s a jacket and we’re going to run it for 10 years.’ That doesn’t work anymore — that’s all falling apart — so for me, it’s going to be about, how do we find a hand that is recognizable?” he added.
“As much as Dior is Dior, it’s going to take time to really work on the craft of it. Especially on bags, we have a long journey to go on, so it’s better to do small amounts to get them right, than doing loads and getting it wrong,” Anderson said.
It was a curiously worded admission of where luxury brands went wrong after the post-pandemic boom. As prices spiraled, an estimated 50 million aspirational consumers have dropped out of the market, according to a Bain-Altagamma study.
Will riffing on aristocratic codes speak to those who have turned their backs on luxury goods, or is it a sign that brands must now court the 1 percent? The jury may be out, but Tuesday’s show confirmed one thing at least: the sun shines on everyone.