Dune by Dior

The Pyramids of Giza. Just a few, really evocative words on the Dior invitation. In fact, Kim Jones has chosen a super scenic location to stage the fall 2023 fashion show of the Lvmh fashion house dedicated to menswear. In fact, the three pyramids of Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus provided the backdrop for the show with a parterre full of stars that had already been seen the night before at the launch of the Dior tears capsule at the Grand Egyptian museum in Cairo (see box). From Naomi Campbell to Lewis Hamilton, Lila Moss and Robert Pattinson, up to designers Erl and Stefano Pilati.

On the runway before them, there was a winter suspended in time, dialoguing with the wind blowing over the desert with tailoring that shifts between menswear and womenswear and marries super technological solutions. With long semi kilts, with bibs as safety covers, with aerial capes and refined garments. And a fetish word: dune, à la française like a famous fragrance by monsieur Christian Dior; in the English version, to recall the blockbuster signed by visionary David Lynch first and reinterpreted by the eye of Denis Villeneuve last year with the star of the moment, Timothée Chalamet. The attitude is cool and a bit sidereal, between stiff, shield-like ski boots, and video game-like space helmets. For something that seems to come from far away.

«My interest in Egypt is related to the stars and the sky», Kim Jones himself told MFF. «It is this fascination with the ancient world and the parallels with what we look at today, what we inherited from them and what we are still learning from the past. In that sense it relates back to Christian Dior and the way he was fascinated by symbols and superstitions that recur in his life and work, one of which is the star». Among colors blending with the genius loci, here are prints like a constellation for hooded outerwear. Stellar and starry. Stargates of fleeing humans and extraterrestrials that may return to Earth by revealing the historic secret of the pyramids, confirming their alien origin. «Both in the collection and in the show, there is the idea of being guided by the stars and what that can entail in many ways. It is about the way the past shapes the present or the idea of a future that derives from the past», Kim Jones concluded. The show animates the sky with laser projections in aerial intersections during Max Richter’s live concert that followed the show.

Judgement. If you were already a fan of the Eiffel Tower lighting up every hour, here you have to brace yourself. The lights on the edge of the esplanade-runway come on one at a time, in synchrony with the illumination of the gigantic pyramids. The landscape becomes a glowing break in the night, a surreal vision that welcomes the runway, which fits within a cinematic picture etched in the mind. A true fashion moment. (All rights reserved)