Under a ceiling of 'electric flowering' designed to echo urban lights, artistic director Raf Simons opened his show, devoted to 'city silhouettes', with a procession of masculine tailoring and power-wielding coats, cropped at the elbow as though pushed up and ready for business. This season even Simons' heels were on the go, morphing a training shoe into an ankle-strapped platform, complete with a fluorescent sports stripe. Ushering in the new workforce were sleek, peaked lapel pantsuits in maroon, bottle green and black, with each Dior employee carrying a hyper-hued coat over her forearm. Although it was soon time to dial in the flou: originating from men's business shirts, dresses came fluted, rather than ruffled, with swinging asymmetrical hemlines. Moving into cocktail hour, electric-hued, scoop front evening looks used 1990s-style side splits to dramatic effect when paired with floral embroidery. Then came the designer's brogue lacings that stitched up form-fitting dresses and coats in the place of corsetry, followed by elegant quilted duvet dresses for the work-weary, seductively cropped in the front. Dior's dream sequence, described by the tour de force designer as 'an idea of the romantic and the real, a world of possibilities', restfully finished with sheer embroidered columns, worn over homely tees.
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The great American museum boomNine of the world’s top ten most expensive, recently announced cultural projects are in the US. What is driving this investment, and is this statistic sustainable?
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Here’s how Heathrow is reimagining airport chaos as ambient musicGrammy-nominated Jordan Rakei turns travel noise into a meditative soundtrack by sampling everything from baggage belts to jet engines
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Wallpaper* checks into Gansevoort Meatpacking, an art-filled hotel that mirrors the district’s glow-upThis sharp, stylish New York hotel is a fixture in its neighbourhood, where boutiques, restaurants and clubs have long since taken over spaces once occupied by slaughterhouses
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Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: what to expectFive moments to look out for at Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 in Paris (starting Monday 7 July), from Glenn Martens’ debut for Maison Margiela to Demna’s Balenciaga swansong. Plus, ‘new beginnings’ from JW Anderson
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Donna Trope celebrates the power of the Polaroid in Paris‘Polaroids used to be my rejects, and now they are my holy grail,’ says the beauty photographer, as she shows rarely seen images in a Paris exhibition
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Summer games, from pétanque to pool floats, get a fashionable spinFrom a luxurious pétanque set to pool floats and playing cards, summer games and toys from the world’s best-known fashion houses
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‘Modern beauty’: Pieter Mulier on his new vision for AlaïaAs creative director of Alaïa, Belgian designer Pieter Mulier honours the timeless vision of the maison’s founder while rewriting the past anew. Here, speaking to Jack Moss, he tells the story behind his first year at the house
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Palace unites with Rapha to celebrate inaugural Tour de France FemmesMarking the first time women will compete in the historic cycling race since the late 1980s, this new collaboration sees Palace Skateboards and Rapha create uniforms for both on and off the bike – including an ‘outlandish’ pair of Crocs
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NYC fashion exhibitions to see right nowNew York City fashion exhibitions to add to your cultural calendar, as style stages a stunning takeover at The Met and more
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Mariella Bettineschi’s feminist artworks survey guests at Dior A/W 2022 showAs guests gathered at Dior’s A/W 2022 womenswear show venue in Paris, sets of duplicated eyes stared down at them from the artworks of Mariella Bettineschi
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Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022: Chanel to Miu MiuIn this extended report, Wallpaper* updates you live from Paris Fashion Week A/W 2022 shows, with rolling coverage as runway events unfold
