Back at Bassin de l’octogone in the Jardin des Tuileries was Jonathan Anderson's second Spring/Summer collection for the house of Dior. This season, in the middle of the pond, stood an enormous camphor tree with mist-like dry ice pouring from the roots as onlookers surrounded the octagonal body of water to watch the show.
These plumes of mist set the tone for Anderson's Spring 2027 collection. Immediately out of the gate, a series of translucent chiffon jackets were layered with airy shirting and raw-hemmed miniskirts of the same fabrication: everything so light that the layers still felt distinctly spring. Jonathan Anderson and Christian Dior share one essential thing in common: a fascination and obsession with the natural world. Under Anderson's guiding hand, the "preciousness of nature" is captured via the Dior silhouette, as he shares in the show notes.
Dior SS27 // Spotlight Launchmetrics
Dior SS27 // Spotlight LaunchmetricsThe romantic art movement from the late 18th to early 19th century was a heavy influence on Monsieur Dior, and here Anderson revisits these motifs. The pannier skirt may have been left in the 18th century, but not before Mr. Dior used the shape to create his La Cigale dress in 1952. For Spring/Summer 2027, Anderson riffed on the famed house silhouette to offer a cocktail sundress in three different colors—all pleated georgette with a ribbon at the neckline.
According to the show notes, Anderson's starting point was the traditional Chinese practice of rolling wénwán walnuts, appreciating the knowledge of nature. The practice of rolling walnuts is also a lesson in patience and discipline. You cannot get to the beautiful thing until you have put in the time and effort for the desired effect—a principle much like Dior's Savoir-Faire standards, which were especially on display today, as scalloped fabric jackets and pleated, diaphanous skirts met with lace to create see-through panes on the garments.
Dior SS27 // Spotlight Launchmetrics
Dior SS27 // Spotlight LaunchmetricsThese watery shapes were intercepted with some real structure, mimicking a bucolic landscape with proper skirts, wool coats, and reimagined Bar Jackets, which this season were trimmed with lace and featured contrasting lapels. Some of Anderson's "Frou Frou" skirts were there from his first Spring collection, as was the return of a kind of translucent houndstooth, checks, and Beetlejuice stripes. Over on the accessories front, heeled flip flops with bows, T-strap sandals, and body chains that swung around the models' top halves like haphazardly placed wired headphones all contributed to this feeling of ease and nostalgia.
Dior SS27 // Spotlight Launchmetrics
Dior SS27 // Spotlight LaunchmetricsThe ultimate example of lightness and movement came via the transparent ribbons of fabric that trailed from earrings, tops, and skirts with raw, unfinished hems, as if to indicate a certain feeling of unraveling, of freedom, of open possibilities for what's to come next at Dior.
Dior SS27 // Spotlight Launchmetrics
Dior SS27 // Spotlight Launchmetrics
Dior SS27 // Spotlight Launchmetrics
Dior SS27 // Spotlight Launchmetrics