So, I didn’t necessarily hate the idea of a fancy rain slicker or boots on Maisie Williams, but they don’t seem like Dior territory and I couldn’t figure out why Dior was bothering. Those don’t add anything special to its offerings, and they don’t harken back to its classic roots; to me, it felt like a more craven “I can totally suck $1000 out of people who are suckers for labels and also live in wet climates.” Maisie’s outfit was from the pre-fall collection, which debuted in December 2019, and of which Maria Grazia Chiuri said, “Fashion is a project, and we’re at a moment when we should be thinking how to renovate this project.” This season she seemed to be taking that a step further thanks to Covid:
Presented to a socially distanced audience in a tent in the Jardin des Tuileries, her collection was—rest assured—a far cry from the cashmere track tops and cocktail earrings of “Zoom dressing,” but a study in how one might adapt the tailored silhouette of Christian Dior (hardly your kick-back-and-relax type of kit) to a comfy new wardrobe sensibility. “This is very far from the Dior look, because Dior was a couture house. The idea of construction was really stiff,” Chiuri acknowledged. “The most important issue for me was to realize the new Dior silhouette: the jacket with the shirt and the pants. I think that is what really represents the feeling of the moment. I cross my fingers.”
All right, I hear you. The moment demands adaptation, but also, maybe you’re wanting to flex your own look a little more as the head of the House of Dior? To me, though, it felt like a hybrid of whiffs of Classic Dior, some of the Raf Simons sheers, and a surprising lot of Valentino homages. I really ran out of steam on the styling recommendations again, though, which feels like an abdication of duty. Perhaps you can find inspiration where I did not?
