I remember when I was younger and my parents took me to a favorite place like a parade or Cirque Du Soleil. I was so fascinated by the artists, so filled with joy by watching them do their amazing acts. In  Dior’s Spring-Summer 2019 haute couture show, designer Maria Grazia Chiur composes her own “parade.”  

In the show, each woman represents a different member of a circus or parade while still all resembling each other with matching headwear.  According to the Dior website, the headwear was the “exclamation mark” of the show. It made each person not a man, not a woman, but a clown, a member of the circus. The headwear was a sequined tight fit helmet with a 3D veil covering the faces of the models. On the veil there were stones to either beautify the face or sparkly tears to show the resemblance to famous clowns Pierrot and Columbine, two clowns deeply in love with each other but Columbine kept breaking Pierrot’s heart which left him sad. To me the headwear was a very symbolic idea of the circus.

The silhouettes of many of the outfits expressed different aspects of a circus like the brave lion tamer, the fun jugglers and the daring acrobats. One of the outfit consists of a model wearing a full bodysuit/tattoo covered by a sheer dress covered in sailor stripes in an array of colors. This layered outfit represents unique artists in the circus. Designer Grazia Chiur also wanted to portray the “passage of time” and does this by adding ruffles, ribbons and frills to some of the pieces in the collection in order to represent different eras. 

The collection is very true to Dior’s style incorporating fun materials and different cuts. However, in the past Dior was focused on the elegance and feminine side of fashion. Now, Dior is more focused on making their outfits more androgynous and non-binary. I think it is meaningful that they switched their clothes making to more of an androgynous type of fashion because they can include more people who can wear it,  unlike other designers who show clothes for “women” or “men” only. I think Dior’s approach is positive especially in today’s society where everyone wants to experiment with different types of clothing, both more or less feminine and masculine.

 To see the designs mentioned, click here