DIOR - HAUTE COUTURE SPRING - SUMMER 2021

This season Maria Grazia Chiurri delivered a show at Dior Haute Couture Spring inspired by tarot card reading, and not just any tarot cards but the 15th century Visconti-Sforza deck executed by the illuminator Bonifacio Bembo for the Duke of Milan, adorned with gold. It is a wellknown fact that Christian Dior himself was into psychic reading, tarot cards, and he believed in the extraterrestrial, he used to have a fortune teller reading before his fashion shows, so it is only fitting that Maria Grazia pays a homage to Monsieur Dior.

The collection was presented in a fantasy film by Matteo Garrone. It showed a girl entering a castle where she would meet her destiny and she would have to make a choice which would pave her way forward into the future. This is only fitting for the times such as right now where we are all sat at home just expecting a world returning back to normal, and a play of the card of Fate is an interesting allegory.

48For this collection Maria Grazia dips her feet into Renaissance and for a staple fashion house like Dior, it fits perfectly. It could be considered her strongest collection since she entered the house, and while she would often end up a laughing stock on social media to many fashion critics including ones with huge amassed following, this time it hits differently. The sheer amount of references from old Haute Couture collections of Dior, down to the traditional techniques and applications used to create these gorgeous fabrics, to the historical references, it is a wonderful collection to celebrate the house of Dior, and something we should be seeing more often.

And while not all of the pieces are to be celebrated, one can be sure that such a powerful story and some quite powerful pieces would definitely enhance the overall experience and it would be something that the Haute Couture consumer would appreciate. The leather lace breastplate jacket in pure black is a stunning art piece which we deserve to see on the red carpet once those become a thing again; it styled with the pair of black smoking trousers further reaffrm sher feminist message. The more masculine and independent woman is rarely portrayed in Haute Couture so we can only appreciate this remark, plus it is great to see her feminist side expressed in a less blatant, overdone kind of way - t-shirts with slogans on them. Maria Grazia Chiurri - you have now set our expectations high, so we will be expecting nothing less of a masterpiece next season.