Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring Summer Show 2015: Past Perfect

‘I was always thinking of the future for so many years and always anti-romanticising the past but the past can be beautiful too,’ stated Raf Simons of his haute couture collection for Christian Dior. And indeed, in his hands, it certainly can. Against a backdrop of plump pink carpet, mirrors and an Optic white scaffold (were we in the 50s, 60 or 70s here?), Mr Simons sent out a collection that drew on everything from Christian Dior’s own New Look to Space Age trapeze and Glam Rock. The spectre of David Bowie, circa Ziggy Stardust, in particular loomed large over everything from catsuits printed with graphic, coloured swirls to more covered in crystal. Simons also had probably the most influential musician of the late Twentieth Century to thank for the soundtrack.

In fact, this is not the first time this designer’s Dior has merged distinct eras with such apparent ease. It is nothing if not testimony to his absolute grasp of the job in hand that the ultra-feminine handwriting that this house’s namesake was known for was this time once again fused with inspiration from the more recent past, specifically the younger designer’s own. Often, their coming together was literal, in a single, lovely exit: a coat hand-painted with the garden flowers beloved by Christian Dior only cut in PVC, say, or a sunray-pleated ‘corolla’ line skirt hand-embroidered with stripes of rainbow-coloured ribbon which were as sporty as they were graceful and sweet.

The embellishment that is central to haute couture, fashion’s most elevated craft form, was of course all present and correct: a patchwork of delicate floral embroideries and encrustations of jewels and paillettes could be seen making their way across short, sharp mini-dresses with racer backs in strong primaries or strapless corseted ankle-length gowns with overblown bouncing skirts. Even when decorating the most architectural silhouette, this is where the precious romance and unbridled emotion of couture, for which every garment is realized entirely by hand, resonated.

The 1970s are in the air, as seen across every ready-to-wear runway worth mentioning this season. And in this case also that decade ultimately dominated only at its most psychedelic, liberated - even wild. With that in mind every look was worn with skin-tight patent boots, thigh- knee- or ankle-high, in bold shades of red, orange, navy and more and all with a chrome cage heel.

Freak out in a moonage daydream? Well, yes. ‘I wanted that feeling of sensory overload both in the collection and in the venue for the show, something encrusted and bejewelled alongside a shock of bright colour and sensuality in the clothing with an architectural structure and interior that had a similarly disorientating feeling,’ is how Raf Simons explained it.