DIOR

Maria Grazia Chiuri, Dior’s creative reative director, has been on a mission to soften Dior’s totemic Bar jacket since she joined the house almost four years ago; 2020 provided her with good reason to design her most deconstructed collection on to date with calf-length skirts in soft, pre-washed fabrics and embroidered or African-inspired wax-printed wrap jackets. The latter, which could be cinched at the waist or worn open, were inspired by the “home” jacket Christian Dior introduced in 1957, based loosely on the kimono. This was Dior’s famous New Look from rom 1947 reconfigured for now.

Filmy chiffons, ballet pumps, and white lace dresses became prettier as the cameras zoomed in but delicate and finely wrought as this was, none of it looked as though it should be saved for best. When no one knows when that might be, “for best” begins to seem an archaic concept.