We remember the T-shirt that started the tenure of Maria Grazia Chiuri at Christian Dior a few years ago. Always slightly underrated by her peers and the press, Chiuri might be the most modern fashion designer in the world working at the moment. She managed to turn her show yesterday into a credible forum for the return of Haute Couture savoir-faire and what it means from an socio-economical point of view. The return of occasion dressing and with it all the weddings and parties that go with it are at the core of Haute Couture and the life of the privileged few who can afford it. But Chiuri who is very close to her teams and seamstresses, most of them all women, was just happy to see them back at work after a devastating year where two Haute Couture live shows were skipped and replaced with videos. Chiuri sees her work first and foremost to empower women, spread a feminist message with her shows and clothes and as an Haute Couture designer and employer show social responsibility for the hands employed by Dior.

The set?

As always Dior pitched a tent in the garden of the Musée Rodin and Chiuri commissioned French artist Eva Jospin to create a vast backdrop of hand embroidered walls to strikingly highlight the tremendous hand and detail work which goes into Haute Couture. Jospin looked at the Indian Embroidery Room at Palazzo Colonna in Rome, Chiuri’s hometown, and dedicated the piece in solidarity with India where much of the embroidery, which is shown on Paris runways, is made.

The collection?

Chiuri knows how to make dramatic evening pieces and her Haute Couture balls in the past have given a perfect platform for these clothes to be worn – big capes and body hugging dresses. This time she was all about cut and line and delivered strict daywear in tweed and cashmere, which looked severe. Special point for Chiuri, she was one of the first to free women of heels on the runways and her boots and brogues looked spot on.