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Dior's SS21 show was inspired by female intellectuals and authors, and livestreamed on TikTok

Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP

Dior staged one of the first in-person events of Paris Fashion Week today, with a physical runway show that was also livestreamed on TikTok.

Located in the Jardin des Tuilieres in Paris, the show was attended by a reduced guest list of celebrities, with Natalia Vodianova, Christine and the Queens, Maisie Williams, Christian Louboutin and Ellen von Unwerth all seated front row.

Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri cited the vibrant collages and provocative slogans of sixties-era feminist artist Lucia Marcucci as a key inspiration this season, enlisting the artist to create a series of immense stained glass window-esque lightboxes to punctuate the vast and dimly lit show venue, each seven metres high and composed of collaged images from art history magazines.

The clothes themselves were a bookish, boho meditation on functional fashion – with an emphasis on trousers and shirting atypical for Dior.

Patchwork quilted kimono jackets worn belted at the waist over roomy khakis and ponchos slung over floaty, dropped-waist chiffon maxi dresses represented a new lockdown-friendly look, while paisley-print turbans and manly white shirts worn buttoned up and bedecked with beaded necklaces were Dior’s new Zoom uniform.

Dior SS21
Dior SS21

Dior is the first major brand to show on the Paris Fashion Week schedule, with further physical shows set to come over the next few days from the likes of Balmain, Chloe, Isabel Marant and Gabriella Hearst. Dior is one of the first of several brands including the likes of Saint Laurent, JW Anderson, and Louis Vuitton that will utilise TikTok to livestream their runway shows.

Click through the gallery above to see the key looks from Dior's spring/summer 2021 collection.

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