What do wearable tech and evening dresses have to do with feminism? In the case of the Dior autumn winter 2022 show, a lot. The runway for the show doubled as a gallery; as models glided by in tailoring and floor-sweeping gowns it was under the watchful gaze of portraits of famous women from the 16th to the 19th century. 

These were almost exclusively painted by men, but for the world of Dior, they’d been curated by feminist artist Mariella Bettineschi. On a closer inspection, the eyes of each painting had been cut and duplicated, reflecting “the judgement that has conditioned – and still conditions – women”.

Dior’s New Look gets a technical reboot for autumn.

The gallery space which doubled as a catwalk at the Dior autumn winter 2022 show. Image by Kristen Pelou.

Autumn at Dior is, as creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri (read an interview with her here) puts it, a reimagining of old and new. This was initiated from the very first look – a bodysuit wired with fluorescent tubing. Just as the show wished to rewrite the past, equally it catapulted us to the future. 

In terms of clothing, this means technical fabrics and the introduction of wearable tech (a special project with Italian start-up D-Air Lab). The house’s Bar jacket – essential to its iconic New Look – was turned inside out, padding on the outside, and imbued with heat-sensitive technology that warms when the body temperature is cool and vice versa.

Above: two examples of the wearable tech pieces created by D-Air Lab for the Dior autumn winter 2022 collection. D-Air Lab is an Italian specialist company that makes functional pieces for sportswear. The message on the gloves, top, reads The Next Era, reflecting the name of the art curation by Mariella Bettineschi. Images by Brigitte Niedermair.

Elsewhere, classic lace dresses – the kind of goddess-like eveningwear we’ve come to know and love from the house – were reinforced with shock-proof corsetry. (Just in case your dinner date results in an off-roading adventure.)

While colour was on offer, undoubtedly the most striking looks were executed in all black or slate grey. A stand out here is the classic bar jacket reworked with an asymmetric hem pleated skirt, another future-proofed nod to nostalgia. Imagine if Kim Novak’s famous skirt suit in Vertigo was teleported to 2022. At Dior autumn winter 2022, the future is very much now.