'I wanted the collection to have a purity to it,' artistic director Raf Simons stated of his show for Dior in Paris this afternoon. 'To simplify and concentrate on a line that expressed an idea of femininity, fragility and sensitivity without sacrificing strength and impact.'
This was certainly his most stripped back offering for the fabled French house to date and also one that played on contrasts: between masculine and feminine, historical and contemporary, fine and weighty, dark and light... The list goes on and such a juxtaposition of opposites has been prevalent across the board for the new season.
This show opened with lingerie-inspired white cotton voile vests and shorts with a sharply cut scalloped edge before moving into tailoring - the Bar jacket in particular looked great oversized - rough knit jumpers over slip dresses and utilitarian outerwear, also scaled up and in places embroidered with jewels and flowers.
'There might be a simplicity to the way the collection looks but it is extremely complex in terms of technique,' the designer continued.
This was evident in the delicacy of embroideries and pleating on petticoats, especially pretty in ivory and palest blush pink.
For spring/summer 2016, love and romance are both definitely in the air and, against a backdrop of thousands of intense blue delphiniums, models here resembled nothing more than futuristic nymphs.
The feeling, M. Simons concluded? 'It's like this woman was about to travel through space and time,' he said.