Chiuri's Woolf-Inspired Dior Women's RTW AW25 Collection
Diorwelcomed guests to a venue filled with dreams in Paris after the whirlwind of festivities of Milan Fashion Week.Dior RTW FW25was an understated show, opening with an androgynously dressed model sitting still on a boundless swing, spotlit blue with an upturned look of optimistic wonder. The theatrical scene left much to be said aboutMaria Grazia Chiuri's shift from sports to storybooks. It wasjust last yearthat the creative director did an Ancient Greece-inspired couture collection after dressingMisaki Emura,Estelle Mossely, andElaine Thompson-Herahfor the 2024 Olympics, with an emphasis on athletic, streamlined monochromatics naturally carrying into the maison's ready-to-wear.
A new era forDiorcomes hot on the heels of a successfulspring 2025 haute coutureshow, which saw a pivot towards ruffles, crinolines, and trains of lace. It's a move that makes sense; Chiuri andPierpaolo Piccioliheaded the fairytale haute couture collections atValentinobefore her move toDiorin 2016. Chiuri's show notes subtly refer to the change of tides as she describes her new collection as one of metamorphosis.
Turning the Pages: Dior Spring 2025 couture and Fall 2025 ready-to-wear
Inspiration for Chiuri'sDiorconnects her design history to what she finds inspiring inVirginia Woolf's "Orlando," the feminist, forward-thinking novel that depicts life before and after the main character's sex change. It's a tribute to Woolf's gay lover,Vita Sackville-West, which West's own son dubs as one of the longest, most charming love letters in literature.
Among the frills to be found in Chiuri's collection is a removable ruff collar of the Elizabethan era, which Orlando wears not only on the book's cover, but also as the lover of the queen. Chiuri's sway between masculine and feminine silhouettes echoes Orlando's gender non-conforming dress, as well as the changing landscape of womenswear in the 1920s, when Woolf published the novel. Lines blur as frock coats and lace cloaks meet floral appliqué bloomers with tentacles of trailing tulle.
"The flower bloomed and faded. The sun rose and sank. The lover loved and went," and yet the sun continues to shine on Chiuri. Her new collection balances timelessness with a lean into antiquity–as fashion shifts from purposeful utility to a form of playful escape–perhaps what Virginia found as she penned "Orlando" in her love for Vita.
Guests atDior RTW AW25included artistsXin Liu,Ling Ling Kwong,Kornnaphat Sethratanapong,JISOO,Olivia Palermo, andNatalie Portman.
