Actresses, first ladies, fashion icons and royalty all took notes on the frow at Dior’s SS23 Haute Couture Show, held at Musée Rodin in Paris …
Maria Grazia Chiuri, creative director of Dior, has form when it comes to celebrating strong women. French queen Catherine de Medici, Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and French American artist Niki de Saint Phalle have all inspired her previous collections.
For SS23 Haute Couture, it was the turn of Joséphine Baker, the luminous African American singer, dancer, and civil rights activist (and member of the French Resistance) who inspired Grazia Chiuri, and the vibrant world of cabaret she inhabited.
Baker left the US in the mid-1920s for Paris, where she starred in the Folies Bergère, often in risqué and dazzling costumes. Pablo Picasso once described her as the “Nefertiti of now” such was her beauty. A couture client, Baker wore the brand to perform in New York City in 1951 and was pictured attending a Dior show in 1959 alongside fellow singer Juliette Greco.
Baker would no doubt have approved of the starlet-style collection – from its slinky robes worn over swimsuits, pintucked palazzo pants, pleated A-line dresses, bar jackets (perfect for daywear) to floor-length capes, beaded bustiers, flapper-style dresses and brocade opera coats, all showcasing Dior’s savoir-faire.
Anya Taylor-Joy wore a Dior Cruise 2023 white wool embroidered jacket and vest with a black tulle skirt. She also wore Dior shoes.
Taking note on the frow were contemporary starlets and actresses: Anya Taylor-Joy, Elizabeth Debicki, Rosamund Pike, Isabelle Adjani and Kirsten Dunst, who mixed with fashion icons including Lucie de la Falaise, Bianca Jagger, Catherine Deneuve and Carla Bruni Sarkozy.
They were dressed in either Dior Haute Couture AW22, Dior SS23 or Dior Cruise 23. The latter was inspired by another legendary performer La Capitana – the name given to flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya.
Bianca Jagger wore a Dior Cruise 2023 white wool coat with a white silk shirt and pants. She also wore a Dior bag and shoes.
Of particular note was 77-year-old Bianca Jagger, debuting a chic new bob hairstyle and dressed in white (perhaps a reference to that white suit she wore for her wedding to Mick Jagger in 1971). If Jagger has kept a low profile on the social circuit, it’s because she has been busy. Since founding the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation she has travelled to many countries to fight human rights violations and has also been associated with the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the World Future Council.
Karlie Kloss wore a Dior Haute Couture Autumn-Winter 2022-2023 red cashmere coat highlighted with silk lacing over a red silk chiffon set with small embroidered buttons. She also wore Dior shoes.
Other notable guests included model Karlie Kloss, Chiara Ferragni, the original influencer and European socialites Beatrice Borromeo – daughter-in-law of Princess Caroline of Hanover – Elisabeth Von Thurn und Taxis, Bianca Brandolini and Nadia Fares. There were also a few “nepo babies” present too. Deva Cassel – daughter of French actor Vincent Cassel and Monica Bellucci, as well as Nina D’Urso – daughter of former Chanel muse Inès de la Fressange.
Dior Haute Couture finale. Photography by Adrien Dirand via Dior.
They were no doubt dazzled by the designs as well as the setting – a tent within the Musée Rodin, Paris the walls of which were transformed by artist Mickalene Thomas and adorned with giant portraits of strong women including Nina Simone, Naomi Sims, Dorothy Dandridge and Hazel Scott.
Dior Haute Couture finale. Photography by Adrien Dirand via Dior.
Grazia Chiuri said in a preview, “I think it’s interesting to celebrate all the women that are references for other women. What interests me is how women of the past can serve as a reference for the future regardless of the nationality or the background.”
Click into the gallery below to see the frow at Dior’s Haute Couture SS23 show …
