Haute Couture report

A new debut, a case for pantsuits, and dalliances with daywear… get in on the buzz behind Spring/summer 2018. jacquie ang pins down the details for five couture houses

DIOR

For her third solo couture outing, Maria Grazia Chiuri took inspiration from Leonor Fini, a surrealist artist Monsieur Christian Dior exhibited in the gallery before he became a couturier. He was, in fact, the first to stage her works in Paris, at a time it was considered groundbreaking to exhibit women artists.

Known for her charismatic phantasmagorical identity as well as her imaginative approach to clothes and extravagant headdresses, Fini “wanted to be a work of art,” Chiuri lets on. As a child, Fini had also been disguised as a b oy ( to p revent b eing kidnapped by her estranged father), so “she didn’t go to a ball to dance, but because she wanted to show herself off”.

Drawing on these references, Chiuri’s graphic collection blended reality into fantasy, femininity into masculinity, giving rise to a black-andwhite palette, with touches of optical art and surrealism. A gown is given black gloves for shoulder straps; an organza cocktail dress is covered with hundreds of embroidered eyes. Games were a major part of the surrealist canon, so Chiuri employed domino dots in this collection too.

To realise many of the exceptional pieces, she collaborated with ateliers including Monsieur Vermont and Hurel, which hand-painted nine panels of organza before embroidering thousands of tiny sequins on the Songe ballgown.