Playful Dior brightens Paris Fashion Week with mirrors and mosaics
A model presents a creation by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
PARIS (Reuters) - Christian Dior brought fun and a touch of fairytale to the start of Paris Fashion week with a collection featuring multi-colored dragon motifs and glittering bodices reminiscent of mosaics.
In a grotto-style hall assembled for the show and decorated with fragments of mirrors, Dior's creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri reasserted her stamp on the French fashion house on the one-year anniversary of her arrival.
A model presents a creation by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
The decor echoed the bold-colored figurative sculptures of late French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle, one of the inspirations for the collection.
Models wore an array of bright colored stripes combined with see-through, flowing skirts, while the washed-out denim outfits, black-and-white checkered prints and baker boy style caps sported by some also gave the collection a playful 1960s air.
"I enjoy fashion -- that's what I want to say," Chiuri told reporters after presenting the fashion house's spring-summer 2018 show, in the ground's of Paris's Rodin Museum.
A model presents a creation by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
The week of shows all around the city runs until Oct. 3 and began a day earlier than usual on Monday night with a show by French label Jacquemus.
Chiuri, the first female creative director at Dior, came from Valentino and presented her first collection last September for the label, which is part of luxury goods specialist LVMH and is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.
She has sought to send strong messages to women in her designs, and Tuesday's show opened with a model wearing a T-shirt that read: "Why have there been no great women artists?"
Models present creations by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
The line referred to an essay by American feminist art historian Linda Nochlin.
Saint Laurent, part of Kering, another luxury goods firm, is also set to unveil its latest offering later on Tuesday, following the death earlier in September of the fashion house's influential co-founder Pierre Berge following a long illness.
Berge, who became a patron of the arts and later headed up the Bastille Opera in Paris, was the partner of late designer Yves Saint Laurent and helped him bring the label to prominence.
A model presents a creation by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
Saint Laurent's creative director Anthony Vaccarello will be presenting his second spring and summer ready-to-wear collection, after also making his debut a year ago.
More than 80 fashion houses will showcase looks for next year over the coming days at Paris Fashion Week, which closes the latest season of shows that have whizzed through New York, London and Milan.
Fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni poses during a photocall before the Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
(Reporting by Sarah White and Reuters TV Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
Lady Amelia Windsor poses during a photocall before the Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe WojazerModel Karlie Kloss poses with model and socialite Bianca Brandolini d'Adda during a photocall before the Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe WojazerActor Charlotte Le Bon poses during a photocall before the Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe WojazerA model presents a creation by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesA model presents a creation by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesA model presents a creation by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesModels Natalia Vodianova and Emily Ratajkowski pose during a photocall before the Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Philippe WojazerA model presents a creation by Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Spring/Summer 2018 women's ready-to-wear collection show for fashion house Dior during Paris Fashion Week, France, September 26, 2017. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
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