Christian Dior’s SS23 ready to wear fashion show opened with a dramatic and hypnotic interpretive dance performed by Dutch brother and sister duo Imre and Marne van Opstal  wearing Dior costumes that mimicked nudity. The French fashion house known for feminine silhouettes and stunning detail displayed an ominous tribute to the femine spirit. Maria Grazia Chiuri, creative director of Dior found her muse in Dior’s archive using a map of Paris and the biography of a French noblewoman from the 1530s Century who helped  pioneer the innovation of high heeled shoes and corsets, Chiuri also pulled vintage prints from Dior’s library. These prints were then reinterpreted for this season’s collection. The fabrics were brought to life by the noted french weavers Tassinari & Chatel by Leièvre Paris, a French textile legend whose history includes creating fabric for Marie Antoinette.

The collection is indeed fit for a queen. Referencing a historic era with raffia skirts, the flower and bird motifs were used to create coats and dramatically draped dresses styled with fishnet socks and ultra-platform heels for an edgy finish. Corsets were shown with wide legged pants offsetting the traditional with a street style feel. Wide sculptural skirts shortened reference another time while maintaining modernity. Tones of gold and sand pushed patterns and black and white detail forward.

The entire show venue was the creation of Eva Jospin, an artist who has collaborated with Dior in the past. This season the artist created the fashion house’s runway set out of cardboard and organic matter to create a life-scale cave-like set inspired by the Villa Borromeo Visconti Litta in Lombardy and the Buttes Chaumont grotto in Paris. The artist’s work reflects the vision of Dior to focus on architectural shapes and the fluid metamorphosis of the organic. Meant to explore the beauty of feminine power the dancers moved between models as they walked down the runway pushing the show to be a full on artistic experience celebrating the femine. 

Watch the full collection, below: