London – At a Maison like Dior, the show must go on, despite the lack of creative
director to guide and inspire its creative team. Without Raf Simons or the
announcement of a successor, Dior for AW16 relied on its head designers
Serge Ruffieux and Lucie Meier to create next season’s collection while the
brand finds a new creative leader.
While it is likely their first and last collection, they stuck to the codes
Raf Simons brought to the house, and competently filled in the placeholder
that could not have been left empty at a mega maison like Dior. Perhaps
they even created their own codes with an off-the-shoulder slouchiness that
was also seen at their couture show in January.
The set was both simple and striking with wind tunnels built into the
mirrored box venue in the Cour Carrée that created a surreal set of
walkways to reflect and refract a tight edit of a Dior core wardrobe. The
bar jacket that Simons often reinterpreted was present in various textures
of black, and in a more casual and loose form than before. The
off-the-shoulder construction, explored in their couture collection,
reappeared here with more movement and levity. A smattering of abstract
embroidery depicting flowers was also present to bolster the eveningwear.
In what appeared to be a calculated casting choice, reality television
starlet Kendall Jenner made her Dior debut on the runway. While the company
continues its search for a creative director, you can’t blame them for
wanting to maximise their social media awareness, however one wonders how
many persons outside of the fashion bubble are aware of any shuffling at
the top. Customers look for continuity, which this season they got.
Perhaps a Maison like Dior could do without a ‘big’ name creative director.
There is a tacit understanding that it is the clothes that sell, not the
name that designs them. If designers are leaving their posts after an
average of three years, perhaps it is the unspoken talent in the studios
who are the real creative heroes and who should be in charge of the
collections. They don’t often get to share the limelight, and probably
deserve the recognition more than most creative heads.