Review | Collection
Enter through a flowered landslide of blue delphiniums in the courtyard of Carrée du Louvre, and you reach a white expanse that is Dior’s runway for unveiling its new collection. Dior Spring Summer 2016 Ready-to-Wear collection at Paris Fashion Week was a simplistic and modern.
Stripping away the extraneous three-dimensional flowers and poofy skirts that we usually see in Dior’s couture collections, this year’s ready-to-wear collection features plain and crisp silhouettes. Minimalism was also in the color palette. The collection comprised mostly all-white outfits, some with black, chocolate and eggshell thrown in. The last few pieces made a use of pastels like pink, sky blue and sapphire.
“I wanted the collection to have a purity to it,” Raf Simons said about the collection. “To simplify and concentrate on a line that expressed an idea of femininity, fragility and sensitivity without sacrificing strength and impact.”
“I feel like doing something calm, calm and beautiful and sensitive and romantic.”
The collection was certainly pure. The hemlines were anything but -reminding us of the edges of Victorian lace. Fitting – as the shorts were inspired by Victorian underwear. Other pieces included sheer dresses, textured overcoats, crop tops, androgynous Bar-jackets, A-line skirts and midi-skirts.
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The collection focused on the functional needs of a modern woman. Perhaps my favorite part were the shoes – thick ankle straps over pointy-toe heels. And the necklaces – modern cameos-of sort within Victorian-inspired inlays and tied around the neck with ribbons like a choker.
The Verdict
Does the collection set the tone for modernist fashion? Maybe not. Fashion, like anything else, is not one way or the other – either too lavish or too stark. It’s a balance that is functional while being aesthetic. Of course, black and white are everlastingly beautiful, but minimalism doesn’t leave much room for flattering silhouettes. Because as Christian Dior said, “A dress is a piece of ephemeral architecture – designed to enhance the proportions of the female body.” Maybe we’ll still wear it. Because it’s Dior, after all!
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Dior Spring Summer 2016 Ready to Wear Collection at Paris Fashion Week: Gallery
Shilpa Ahuja the editor-in-chief of ShilpaAhuja.com, which she founded with the goal of inspiring confidence in the modern working woman through fashion. Other than defining the direction of the magazine, she also writes about fashion & beauty trend forecasts, industry analysis, and opinions.
Shilpa’s work has been published in the University of Fashion blog and Jet Airways magazine. She is also an artist, illustrator and cartoonist. She is also the creator of Audrey O., a comic series that represents the lifestyle of millennial women. She enjoys creative writing and world travel. Her art has been exhibited at Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Aroma Hotel, Chandigarh and been published in Chandigarh Times.
Originally from Chandigarh, Shilpa also has a degree in architecture and has worked in interior project management. She is also the author of the book “Designing a Chinese Cultural Center in India”. Shilpa has a Masters in Design Studies degree from Harvard University.
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