Dior Spring-Summer 19 Collection & Show in Paris

Dance is at the heart of Dior’s SS19 collection shown in Paris this week. 

Dior’s SS19 Show in Paris

Maria Grazia Chiuri, Creative Director of Dior women’s collections, drew inspiration from the works of a series of artists who shook up established codes in order to develop another idea of the beauty of the body in motion in a new relationship with space, time and nature. 

“It’s not a question of bodily perfection, but of flexibility and strength of movement,” says Sharon Eyal, one of the most talented choreographers of our time, whom Maria Grazia Chiuri wished to associate with this show.

Christian Dior loved dance. The Dior archives contain documents illustrating his extraordinary collaboration with Roland Petit on the ballet Treize Danses and photos of Margot Fonteyn, the dancer and House client.

“The experience of dance, its most intimate truth, the fact that it is a means of universal expression, and the radicality of the gestures of contemporary dance have all stimulated my imagination,” says Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Bodysuits, tanks and light jumpsuits form a choreography of clothing in an infinity of nude shades, a multitude of variations, corresponding to the body’s movements. The elements of the collection reveal the essence of light and extreme suppleness.

The separates in the collection become the base and the complements to a series of other pieces in the collection such as the full and airy skirts as well as short or long tutus worked from light layers of tulle with the corset replaced by a simple tank.

 As a visual allusion to hip-hop sounds, another inspiration for part of the collection, jeans serve to emphasize the relaxed silhouette.

Dresses and skirts are worn under large coats and jackets as though to protect the bodies upon exiting the theatre. Shoes, meanwhile, are incredible creations of braided ribbon from foot to ankle reminiscent of the ballet slipper, only, resting on the transparency of a Plexiglas heel.

The energy of this collection and the show is reflective of both rigorous discipline and extreme freedom – the fundamental pillars of modern haute couture. The show is a stylish piece of choreography and a powerful explosion of the imagination.