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Runway Report: Christian Dior S/S18 Haute Couture

“Only the inevitable theatricality of my life interests me.”

Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri’s borrowed and revolved her show around the words of Argentinian surrealist painter Leonor Fini for her spring/summer 2018 haute couture show. Turning the face of feminism towards surrealism, the Musée Rodin was transformed into an art gallery with giant ceramic casts of body parts suspended from the ceiling, a predominantly monochrome colour palette which sought to weave the Times Up and Me Too movement into wearable art.

At a glance, one sees a sea of black-and-white chequered patterns nodding Man Ray’s chessboard, oversized plaster casts of disembodied noses and eyes paying lip service to Magritte and Dali. But as you look deeper, the symbolism is not lost. Bird motifs embodying the spirit of escapism were also a reoccurring theme through the show, including the birdcage hoop earrings and mesh cage dresses and the peacock feathers on bejeweled gowns, while artistic patterns were embroidered onto cocktail coats and A-line dresses veiled in tulle. An outstanding accessory was the effect of illusion. Fishnet stockings slipped over the top of a shoe, or the neckline of a dress in fact compromising of elbow-length silk globes, body tattoos – spelling out “Attitudes Spectrales” paired with beautifully constructed masks created by British milliner Stephen Jones and floor-sweeping checkerboard gowns complete with matching feathered cape.

As the iconic house’s first female creative head, Maria is known for using feminist ideals and motifs as her building block for the modern buyer. In her 2016 debut, she set the fashion world ablaze as she sent a T-shirt with the title of a Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Ted talk “We Should All Be Feminists” on to the catwalk, followed by feminist art critic Linda Nochlin’s essay title, “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” last year. This season, she is still firm on her quest to answer this question, with the new collection, borrowing inspiration from the surrealist painter who is renowned for her depictions of powerful women and who held her first exhibition in Christian Dior’s gallery in the 30s.