The A-Z of Hermès carrés

This season, Maria Grazia Chiuri wondered if it was possible to break new ground while staying faithful to the strict rules decreed by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, as she gave the emblematic Bar jacket a twist with batwing sleeves. “The objective of this collection was to create a contemporary couture collection that follows the rules of couture. It’s often quite easy to break the rules, but it’s a lot harder to innovate within the framework imposed by the rules,” she opined.

Following the phenomenal exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs that ended earlier this year (it moves to the V&A next February), the artistic director paid tribute to the ateliers. As in a temple, its petite mains are like guardians to the sacred traditional arts of the House’s illustrious savoir faire. She set out to offer ideas for modern women to understand how couture made sense today, protecting the value of couture and the artisanship that distinguished it.

A quiet riot, her couture creations made a minimalist’s sartorial dreams come true. Awash in a palette composed of every interpretation of nude you can imagine, the effortlessly elegant pieces looked like they had been sculpted for every model, without corsetry.

“Haute couture was associated with something that had to be extremely visible due to its great expense. But in reality, haute couture is not about that. It speaks of something very subtle, a lot more personal, because there is a lot of work that is not necessarily, particularly visible,” she explained, pointing out the velvet that was entirely handmade, something not obvious to the naked eye.

“In terms of colours, we used different shades of nude, because those are the tones of the skin. It became about highlighting how we are always speaking about the body about something which is built on the body itself, and how fashion is tied to the body, and how this relationship is extremely intimate.”

THE OPENER The midnght blue three-piece ensemble (fringed spiral-sleeve bolero, belted vest and skirt, all with a herringbone-effect) demonstrated Chiuri’s deft modernisation of Dior’s heritage. THE SET Her tribute to the tradition of Dior savoir faire was unveiled in a blindingly white, mirrored room in the gardens of the Musée Rodin. Filled with infinite rows of 294 mannequins stretching from floor to ceiling, some were dressed in hand-sewn toiles from the new collection. “We used the toile from the entire collection because we wanted to show what’s behind the couture, how it looks at the beginning,” Chiuri said. “One always starts from the toiles, followed by the fabric.”

THE MAKE-UP To complement Chiuri’s nude palette, Peter Philips conceived a look with products from the Dior Backstage line. “With 40 shades of Dior Backstage Face and Body Foundation, I’ve got 16 levels of intensity across six skin tones, so that I can adapt it to every complexion precisely,” he said.

THE ACCESSORY One of Chiuri’s influences stemmed from the famous late-medieval La Dame et la Licorne tapestry series, spawning charming precious rings with fantastical beasts ranging from unicorns to rabbits and lizards.