Dior Men Egypt Giza Pyramids Pre-Fall 2023 show “Guided by the Stars”. Story by Eleonora de Gray, Editor-in-Chief of RUNWAY MAGAZINE. Photo Courtesy: Dior / Adel Essam / Alessandro Garofalo.
Since ancient times Giza Pyramids hold many mysteries. And here’s one more. Tonight Dior presented a new Fall 2023 collection in this spiritual and magic environment.
An autumn evening in Giza, at the setting of the sun behind the great pyramid… As the light changes, silhouettes emerge from the desert, in motion, reflecting the colours of the sky, the landscape and the passage of time. In the collection, a gradation of grays gives way to the palette of the desert – from daytime to nightfall, with hints of a fiery sunset filtering in between.
Behind all are the principles and rigour of the Dior archive past and the men’s atelier present, with a practiced focus on pattern cutting. The collection absorbs the lessons of the past and applies them to the present and future: metamorphosing the feminine to the masculine in tailoring; uniting couture finishings with technical practicalities in outerwear; archival embroideries are transformed into futuristic armory; leather goods reinterpret luxury into a new, organic utility. In short, extravagance is achieved with an useful, pragmatic elegance.
In this living history, with a grounding in traditional savoir-faire united with excellence in contemporary, technical know-how, ease and fluidity are key; from the purposeful technical jacquard transparencies that reveal rigorous underpinnings in tailoring and outerwear; to the new, crin-like wool demi-kilts – originating from the bias pleated skirt of a Dior dress from the fifties called bonne fortune. While nothing is left to chance, nothing negates the need for comfort and practicality: the ultimate luxuries.
“My interest in ancient Egypt is about the stars and the sky. It’s that 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. It links to Christian Dior in that sense and by way of his fascination with symbols and superstitions that recur throughout his life and work, one of which is the star. In both the collection and the show there is an idea of ‘guided by the stars’ and what that can entail in many ways. It’s about how the past shapes the future or an idea of the future from the past.” Kim Jones.
In the collection, a gradation of grays gives way to the palette of the desert – from daytime to nightfall, with hints of a fiery sunset filtering in between. There is a movement from our closest star to ones in galaxies far, far away observed by NASA’s space telescopes, light years away brought near in engineered prints.
Working with the carnage and the diamond codes in a mix of contemporary techniques and textures, from high-frequency neoprene paneling and injection molding to anodized metal finishes. At the same time, nothing negates the need for comfort and practicality: the ultimate luxuries.
See all looks Dior Pre Fall 2023
