Dior invokes #MeToo in latest show

“Consent, Consent, Consent” flashed the neon set lights at Dior’s latest ready-to-wear show in Paris.

It signalled that the house’s first-ever female designer, Maria Grazia Chiuri, would continue to explore her touchstone of feminism for her fall-winter 2020 designs.

The set, the fruit of a collaboration with artist Claire Fontaine, made a strong impact on VIP guests — including actress Sigourney Weaver and singer Carla Bruni. Some paused for thought, especially as the show was delayed, in discussions of the #MeToo era and its influence on art — one day after Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault and led off to prison in handcuffs.

The designs themselves cleverly riffed off the empowerment idea at the start: such as the Dior signature bar jacket, reimagined as ribbed and angular, and twinned with a men’s shirt and business tie on a female model with a short pixie hairstyle. It was the show’s strongest fashion statement.

The feminist and androgynous musing sadly faded quickly in the 84-look show, suggesting that for Chiuri it was more of a marketing gimmick than a developed creative idea.

The rest of the show featured diverse silhouettes that delved in and out of the rich Dior archives — checks, polka dots, knitwear in jackets, shirts and pants — with varying degrees of success. The checks, which evoked Marc Bohan — Dior’s longtime head and designer during that retro era — appeared in beige and occasionally in a total look style.