Dior design team impress on Haute Couture runway in absence of former leader Raf Simons

The team showcased an offering that celebrated the skill and dedication of the unsung heros
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Karen Dacre25 January 2016

Proof that a collaborative approach is the hottest thing in fashion right now was present in Paris today when at least six members of the Christian Dior design team took a bow at the end of the house's latest show.

Pending a replacement for their former leader Raf Simons, who stepped down from his role as artistic director in October, the team were visibly moved by the opportunity to stand up and be counted during testing times for the company.

The scenes were vaguely reminiscent of the events that unfolded after a disgraced Galliano made his dramatic exit from Dior in 2011 but there was much more to be positive about today - notably because the couture collection on offer seemed to carry with it a sense of love and respect for Simons’ and his short but memorable tenure at the house.

As evidence that this was an offering created by a team of individuals who believed wholeheartedly in Simons’s modernist approach to luxury fashion, the show was heavy with the former artistic director’s signature touches. Perhaps it was the easiest way to say way to say goodbye?

Francois Guillot/AFP/Getty

Bar jackets, cut in to flatter the waist and draped low to reveal the shoulder line, evoked memories of the Belgian’s second couture offering for the house while a dedication to an asymmetric silhouette also suggested that the team had a shared a love for an aesthetic that is both complicated and angular.

Keen to continue their quest to drive Dior into the future, there was little - save for a few pared back A-line gowns - that was retrospective in this show with the most beautiful looks a series of nearly naked chiffon gowns.

Free and fluid, the clothes were soft and rarely restrictive despite the hours of craftsmanship at work within each piece. Playing with erogenous zones, the team made much out of décolletage and shoulders with bardot style shift dresses and fine knit spider lace sweater worn layered under dresses.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty

The use of symbols and charms, embroidered onto dresses and bell skirts, made for a playful addition and suggested that the design team had been looking to the stars - and undoubtedly to Christian Dior - to help them navigate their way through this time of change.

Overall, this was clever, astute collection and a good a job done by a design team which is without its leader. It was also an offering that celebrated the skill and dedication of the unsung heros that hide in the wings of every great fashion institution.

News of who and when Simons replacement is to be announced is yet to surface in Paris. Among those in the frame is Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton who is rumoured to be in talks with the house. Belgian designer Olivier Theyskens has also been tipped for the role.

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