As of press time, the legendary French fashion house of Dior is without a creative director; its search for a successor to Raf Simons still in progress. If that’s a problem, it didn’t show in the brand’s Autumn Winter 2016 collection presented at Paris Fashion Week.
The work of the in-house design team led by Lucie Meier and Serge Ruffieux – both said to be Simons’ aides during his three-year-plus reign at the maison – the collection was a loving ode to the house codes that surprised at the same time. Think the brand’s signature lily of the valley motif rendered in various couture finishes – prints, embroidery, jacquard, sometimes all at once – on mini empire waist dresses to bar jacket-skirt suits. Or masculine tailoring fabrics – another favourite of Monsieur Dior – on ladylike silhouettes, complete with the (only) shoe of the season: slim, tomboy-ish lace-up boots with cut-outs on the sides (they come in low block or high stiletto heels options).
Here, Dior gives Female an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the collection, with backstage photos by Kevin Tachman. Editor Noelle Loh reports.
