Dior S/S 2016
Raf Simons finds a new kind of precision, purity and ease agains a dramatic backdrop of blue delphiniums

Mood board: Guests to the Christian Dior show had to pass through a giant hill of blue delphiniums constructed in the centre of the Carre du Louvre in Paris before entering a pristine all-white box. Artistic director Raf Simons connected the dots for his collection and that mammoth mountain by stating that ‘just as in nature, I wanted to find a new kind of precision, purity and ease.’ His clothes looked decisively more precise than organic, and yet there was something of the outdoors in his sheer looks and voile-like dresses that took their cues from Victorian style underwear. More than anything, though, the show felt futuristic and cleaned up of excess in the Simons way.
Best in show: Without a doubt, Simons has a hit on his hands with the new exaggeratedly cropped sweaters that he showed layered over gauzy dresses. Less commercial but no less impactful were the sporty-like canvas anoraks covered in couture-like furry white embroideries. We also ogled a dynamite red and navy broad striped coat dress.
Finishing touches: The shoe this season is as pointed as any witch-wear but offered in modernist shiny patent leather. Either flat as paper or launched up onto thick heels, both shoes came with contrasting coloured, thick patent leather straps that wrap around the ankle.
INFORMATION
Photography: Umberto Fratini; Jason Lloyd-Evans
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