Dior took flight at Paris Fashion Week with a Virginia Woolf-inspired collection and this season’s starriest front row.
Metamorphosis, gender fluidity and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando inspired Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Fall-Winter 2025 collection for Dior. The Italian designer dived deep into Woolf’s novel, which traverses the life of Orlando, a male-born aristocrat who starts anew after a mysterious sex change.
Transformation and Revival
Dio’s FW25 collection places fashion as a catalyst for transformation. Mixing references of past creative directors’ tenures at Dior, Chiuri explored the idea of freeing clothing from gender stereotypes. “Garments therefore constitute a repertoire of possibilities,” the show notes read.
The foundational element in Chiuri’s collection is the “Orlando ruff,” a garment detail inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel. The frilled removable collar evokes femininity and masculinity, pushing the boundaries of gendered fashion.
Chuiri further explores change and transformation by reviving Dior house codes such as Gian Franco Ferrer’s white shirt and John Galliano’s “J’adore Dior” T-shirt. Another design element restored from the Dior archive is the cut-out and appliqué embroidery adorning technical jackets.
The Feminine Vs. The Masculine
Playing with the idea of juxtaposing traditionally masculine silhouettes with womenswear, the runway incorporated bustiers, lace collars and lightweight pieces alongside boxy jackets, tailcoats and raincoats. Elizabethan-era-infused garments nodded to the dandy aesthetic, adding a feminine flair via flounces, frills and brocade.
The texture and textile diversity mirrored the same spirit. Deconstructed crinolines, ribbons, pearls and lace coexisted with technical fabrics, velvet and jacquard.
The Staging
As it’s Maria Grazia Chiuri’s tradition, the mise-en-scène was a collaborative effort. Every season, the Italian designer lends her runway for artists across fields to display their work. In this occasion, Chiuri joined forces with American theatre director and playwright Robert Wilson.
The director staged and choreographed a runway featuring a large prehistoric bird overlooking the runway. Models, in the meantime, walked across hot lava and icebergs emerging from the floor.
“Maria Grazia asked me to stage the [Dior] fashion show, and we talked about it being loosely based on Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. Orlando is a journey that takes us to foreign lands, landscapes of ice and landscapes of fire,” Wilson shared in a statement. “I divided this work into five acts. I worked with sound, I worked with light. Light is what creates space. Light is what helps us hear and see. I am not trying to tell a story. It is something that we experience, with the freedom to think and dream.”
On the Front Row
Reflecting Dior’s ability to keep up with the times, the Dior Fall-Winter 2025 show gathered a bevy of international celebrities, from K-pop star and Dior ambassador Jisoo to Miss Dior’s official face, Natalie Portman.
Shaping to be the new Fashion Week sensations, Thai actresses Ling Ling Kwong and Orm Kornnaphat and Turkish star Tuba Büyüküstün made a grand entrance at Jardin de Tuileries. Dressed in head-to-toe Dior, the international stars captured attention from the press and fans alike, proving to be forces to be reckoned with at a time Thai and Turkish entertainment finds its footing outside Asia.
Lucy Hale, Olivia Palermo, Tems and Fashion Week icon Heart Evangelista also gathered around Robert Wilson’s square stage. It was perhaps, one of the most star-studded front rows of the season.
See the best images from the runway and the front row below.
