Amid blossoming buds that signal the descent of the hanami season upon Japan’s historic capital, French maison Dior introduces the soft grace of its Pre-Fall 2025 collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri.
Fashion exists within the context of the space it occupies, a premise best exemplified by location shows that bridge the gap between the clothes on a runway and the bodies that wear them. Literal backdrops drawn from the real world have served this purpose, from the undulating bends of Oscar Niemeyer’s Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Niterói in Brazil to the resolutely enduring Pont Neuf that stretches across the Seine.
Dior Pre-Fall 2025: An ode to Kyoto blossoms
Maria Grazia knows this well – Dior has minted a reputation for a no-expense-spared approach to all-encompassing immersion under her tenure, where a Rolodex of global destinations, including Mumbai for Pre-Fall 2023 and Scotland’s Crieff for Cruise 2025, have spellbound celebrities and press alike. Eastward headwinds this month invite the fashion coterie to descend upon Kyoto‘s Minami-ku ward, where the spire of the Tō-ji rises from underneath the puffed pink branches of cherry blossoms.
As dusk descends, so does the lustre of a showcase that delves deep into the extensive union between the House and Japan, dating back to Monsieur Dior’s fascination with the country that resulted in the incorporation of fabrics imported from Kyoto’s Tatsumura Textiles in his fall/winter 1954 collection, as well as the conception of the DiorpaletoDior jacket in 1957 that was developed to be worn over kimono robes without displacing the garment’s original silhouette.
Diaphanous drapes inspired by the kimono’s fluid lines form the basis of Dior’s Pre-Fall 2025 showcase in Kyoto. Image courtesy of Dior.
The Designer of Dreams may not have had the privilege of spectating the Japanese gardens during his lifetime, but the works he penned to life have transcended time and geographical borders, where the deft interplay between his own traditional French couture training was amplified in a completely new dimension with the clean, unobstrusive lines inherent to Nihon sartorial heritage.
That said, the Dior woman can still expect staple codes from Chiuri’s design language to remain, such as the use of sheer fabrics for a subtle echo of sensuality as well as belted looks and leather separates underpinning an overt influence of Japanese garmentmaking for this season.
More sobering black ensembles that are typical to Chiuri’s design process also made an appearance. Image courtesy of Dior.
Revisiting choice archives resulted in a gamut of key looks deeply inspired by the kimono’s straight-cut supple drape, most notably in blouses and tops featuring either a degrade colour palette or hand-embroidered floral motifs, all of which utilised textiles developed specifically for use in the show by none other than Tatsumura. Deceptively wearable, the finery is, as always, in the details, witnessed in several painstaking fabrication techniques employed to create specific textile effects, such as hand-dyeing for denim pieces.
The appeal is apparent with the sensibilities in Dior’s Pre-Fall 2025. Flat shoes that navigate loose gravel with ease, broad cuts that ventilate with breezy comfort when caught in a gust; but the house’s unrelenting commitment to its source material and ethos to luxury it has long been known for remains at its core.
The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.
AloJapan.com