How Dior gave fairy tales a feminist rewrite for Paris Fashion Week – LVMH’s luxury brand filmed a Covid-19-safe fashion show at the Palace of Versailles rife with relevance
- ‘These women are not waiting for a prince’ – creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri placed a feminist stamp on the women’s autumn/winter 2021 collection
- Looks featured the brand’s ‘cannage’ motif and 1947 leopard print, plus leather dresses, tulle gowns and velvet coats against backdrops by Silvia Giambrone
Christian Dior gave Little Red Riding Hood an edgy makeover for its latest collection on Monday (March 8), as it filled the runway at Paris Fashion Week with hooded capes and recreated a moonlit scene under the glinting chandeliers of the Palace of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors.
These women are not waiting for a prince but more are going into the world to realise themselves – I think women are better when they build their life with their own hands and don’t wait on someone to help them
The camera followed dancers performing at night in the mist-filled grounds, before zooming in on the looks paraded by models in the 17th century palace as they strutted in and out of the shadows.
In Dior’s dark fairy tale, which featured black leather dresses with puff sleeves, princess-style tulle gowns and velvet coats among the winter styles, gone are the damsels in distress waiting to be rescued.
“I am not obsessed with the idea of a princess. Each woman wants to play [a] different character with different clothes, to be one moment a soldier, then a princess,” designer Maria Grazia Chiuri said in an interview.