Raf Simons Conjured Silver Belles for Christian Dior’s Debut Pre-Fall Collection
We’ve shaken the Vogue Runway archive like a snow globe. When the glistening flakes settled, the very best winter wonderland shows were revealed. We’re sharing them, one by one, over eight days. Day 6: Christian Dior’s Pre-Fall 2015 Esprit Dior collection, presented on December 11, 2014, at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
There are different kinds of snow, and the Japanese have names for them. The stuff good for making snowmen is dense and wet; the type that drifts is light and crisp. A simulation of the latter fell on the models who walked in Christian Dior’s first-ever Pre-Fall collection. It was staged in Tokyo in an enormous sumo stadium over which hung a metal grid. The idea, noted one observer, was to create an “urban landscape abstraction,” and this was communicated through the choreography. Models in groups zigzagged across the bare space as they might the busy streets of this fast-paced and dynamic city.
Winter Wonderland
One wonders if Raf Simons’s references to Blade Runner, dialogue of which was used to soundtrack the show, were straightforward or ironic. The idea of a replicant seems almost absurd if you consider that the Harajuku district, where self-expression through style is a sort of art form, is about 10 minutes away from Dior’s venue. Futurism, however, was a theme of the collection, most dramatically in the form of what Nicole Phelps described as “second-skin sequined turtlenecks,” many in shiny silver that nodded to the work of the space-age designer Paco Rabanne. Some of these were worn under cosplay-short shaped dresses or mid-length sweaters with zip fronts that added an industrial touch that was in keeping with the vast space. More surprising were the alpine references, which could be read into the Fair Isle/Nordic knit patterns that Simons brilliantly translated into sequins. The flurries contextualized these glam—but refreshingly not red carpet—après-ski looks. Simons would continue to deconstruct these ski-style knits at Dior and, later, Calvin Klein.
Winter Wonderland
Rendered in reflective paillettes rather than pliant wool or cashmere, these ensembles didn’t have a cozy “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” feeling, nor did they evoke nostalgia. Worn by models who conveyed strength and a sort of single-minded efficiency, they possessed a cool modernity. Despite the fake snow, they were easy to warm to.
