As Raf Simmons asserted, the target
this season was a gradual move away from heritage and towards ingenuity but of
course ingenuity that has to be uniquely Dior. It was custumal and familiarly
feminine but also, as he put it, "savage& sexual, urban instead of
romantic". There were many a proponents of the familiar; a classic impression of
Dior. A very tame dimension as palpable in the full sleeve shirt, a basic shift
and the modest car coat silhouette and tweed pant suits, that opened the show. Behind
these were those traces of sensual. Traces indeed to begin with; some shreds here
on a tunic, some there on a skirt and the colourful motifs all concealed behind
the usual. Enter thigh-high vinyl boots borrowed from couture, the raw treatment
of fur on the coats, a bodysuit in that vividly colourful print and splendidly
glistening surfaces of liquid mesh. That’s where the second dimension surged-
the one that of savage sexuality. The colours were abundantly used where they
were. The red on a car coat was notable and starkly clean.
That’s how Raf managed to contain and challenge. To let it
be Dior yet make it his own, this was Christian Dior with defining streaks of
Raf Simmons.
Images via style.com
