Christian Dior

It started with a “We should all be feminists” slogan T-Shirt which very much came to define her entire Dior tenure of refined and wearable clothes from a woman for women and might have ended with a heartfelt “J’adore Dior” version which anchored a beautiful and complex show at the Tuileries where Dior built its custom tent. All of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s wishes were fulfilled with a magical set by Robert Wilson and an homage to her predecessors especially the often-forgotten fellow Italian Gianfranco Ferré. This Dior show had lots of dressed up corsets and endless riffs on the white shirt just the way Ferré liked it when he headed the house from 1989 to 1996. Once upon a time a female Italian designer brought the ultra-French house Dior to new commercial heights but never got the critical acclaim everyone wished for. A booming voice twice spoke out the fairy tale beginning before the show started. It felt like a classic Robert Wilson performance who even seemed to have had a hand in how the models walked out in groups. Fog was blowing out of pipes, hanging rocks came down from the ceiling, a children’s toy like bird flew through the square space and Caspar David Friedrich’s Sea of Ice came to mind when for the finale small ice towers protruded from the floor. How does it all make sense? Only Wilson and Chiuri know but the stage was set for a tour de force of tailoring where velvet boleros were combined with the above mentioned Tee and heavy coats in long black leather showed Chiuri’s preference for a tough woman who even wears a messenger bag over her torso, The Victorian vibe in black tailoring and white shirts felt decidedly fresh and new for Chiuri who also made clear that the under the knee high boot or sandal is entirely hers. Is the resort show in Rome her finale? Does Loewe not have a show this week for a reason? We shall find out. 

Victorian vibe in the tailoring

Zomer

Zomer turned things around a bit. After being somewhat of a can‘t miss show in past seasons, this young brand founded in 2023 by designer Danial Aitouganov and stylist Imruh Asha turned things on its head for F/W 2025. It started off with the complete rundown of all looks and then the models were sent out one by one in outfits where the front was the back. Sounds gimmicky? It wasn‘t the case as the concept did not forsake the result. It‘s easy to wear a jacket on the wrong side for styling purposes or images, but to construct a jacket in order to have the right fit – and it did – needs proper work. The bomber jacket turned into dresses were cool, the pants and skirts with back pockets in the front super wearable and the knitted dresses by our A48-featured Cécile Feilchenfeldt gave the collection a fun, colorful and textured edge.

Bomber jacket dresses

AlainPaul

After his debut last season in Paris‘ Théâtre du Chatelet, AlainPaul has made apparent his knack for story-telling. Paul’s own story began with a 15+ year career in dance to then supporting Demna in raising Vetements from the ground ten years ago before a stint at Louis Vuitton and now to having his own brand with partner Luis. This collection was inspired by dancers and their clothing  in motion (on and off stage)  so it had a lot of tension as seen in a bold red lapel-less jacket and pants look styled with a knitted bolero that threw folds as it was „too tight“. It was about capturing the movement of the clothing in mid-dance resulting in organic shapes for tops and skirts made from padded nylon. Tights and stockings were knitted into oversized jumpers or dresses and heavy-handed ruching-details reminiscent of dance-costumes but paired with a dark grey denim to still keep the cool edge. But what really makes AlainPaul stand out is his almost systematic placement of simple but bold primary colors in a very intelligent way and using them to underminde his storytelling abilities.