Through A Lens

Guests including Stella Tennant, Mariacarla Boscono, Peter Lindbergh and Julie d'Ys were among the industry figures who dropped in at Paris bookstore Galignani to pick up an advance copy of Paolo Roversi's new book of photographs of outfits by the house of Christian Dior.

Since the early Nineties, the Italian photographer had shot creations by successive Dior creative directors Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons and Maria Grazia Chiuri for publications including Vogue Italia, Vogue Paris and W magazine.

For “Paolo Roversi: Dior Images,” due to be published by Rizzoli on Feb. 20, he teamed with stylist Grace Coddington to shoot designs from the Dior Heritage archives. Coddington styled creations by founder Christian Dior on models Lineisy Montero, Tami Williams and Noémie Abigail, imbuing them with a modern attitude.

“They are not modern; they are completely timeless,” Roversi said at the signing, held on Wednesday night to coincide with Paris Couture Week. “They are so beautiful, these clothes, it's not a question of time. They cross time, and you put them on contemporary beautiful girls and it works. I was surprised myself how well they work.”

He also got to shoot outfits by Yves Saint Laurent and Marc Bohan in sessions styled by Jacob Kjeldgaard for the book, and by Alex White for Vogue Australia's August 2017 issue, timed to coincide with the opening of “The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture” at the National Gallery of Victoria.

So does Roversi have a favorite Dior designer? “Christian Dior. It's sentimental, because he started the whole thing,” he answered. “I love all of them — Saint Laurent, Gianfranco Ferré, Maria Grazia now, Raf Simons — but if you ask me one, what can I say?” — JOELLE DIDERICH