We’ll Never Be Able To Afford Couture, But We’re Stealing This Dior Styling Trick

Roll up, roll up, the Haute Couture circus is in town. It may be the slowest, most intricate and hallowed method of producing clothes, but at the Dior Couture show in Paris, Marie Grazia Chiuri was having a little fun. After all, she staged the show in a circus tent and hired a troupe of acrobats to perform as the models wove their way down the catwalk.

The clothes didn’t clown around. The 54-year-old couturier showed extravagant ring master tailoring, Marcel Marceau stripes, Pierrot’s ruff collar and a modern update on the commedia dell'arte harlequins. The references may be steeped in the past, but there was one very modern styling trick we’ll be walking into the future with: sheer socks and blinding shoes.

Christmas season may be but a distant memory, but we’re not ones for mandating the sell-by date of sparkles. Instead, we’re planning to brighten up miserable January with bedazzled boots and Mary-Janes, just like Dior. Riffing on the theme of the show, the couture house showed ankle boots in gold, silver or decorated with red and black stars with Big Top stripes. Kitten heels worked to a 1940s brief as a glittering take on tap shoes. Our personal favourites, however, have to be the flats. With chunky soles and criss-cross straps, these low-shoes were still high on the glitter quota. We learnt that adding a pair of net socks instantly sucks the saccharine right out of this glitzy look.

Our prediction? Alexa Chung will have first dibs on those flashy flats.