#SuzyCouture: Dior’s Ultra Desirable Parade Of Black

The work of the determined designer was exceptional on two levels: it was a rigorous statement about the reality of women’s lives and needs, and there were clothes that underscored the intricacy and delicate qualities of haute couture.https://www.instagram.com/p/BzYXywbnhFj/?utm_source=ig_embed

The essence of the collection was reduced to the feathery lace shoes that wafted up the legs in the form of hosiery. It summed up Maria Grazia’s spirit as aware, not only of the situation of women in the 21st century, but also the need for something to wear.

With its depth of thought and art references, from Bernard Rudofsky’s 1944 New York exhibition about clothing and modernity, to the decor elements created currently for the show by artist Penny Slinger, did the event add up to the familiar fashion story of architecture versus decoration?

“There are no contradictions between the two things and we think too much that there is only one way to be decorative or to have architectural vision,” said Maria Grazia.

“But for the first time, the woman and the building were important, with decoration an important element of the structure. I think that we can try a way of working that has different elements, but not of contradiction. We can propose to women and let them decide. The idea is that clothes are a project – for the house and for your body.”https://www.instagram.com/p/BzYpHe8nQJN/?utm_source=ig_embedDeep thoughts need to be accompanied by reality in fashion. And after the initial surprise at the enclosed interior and the dense, dark clothes, the eyes adjusted to a very fine collection. Because it was almost entirely black, the focus was on the detail. And if the initial all-covering coats and suits might seem heavy, they patently were not, as the fabrics in movement revealed an easy lightness.

Almost immediately came the lace, from bodice to knees, down to those shadowed legs. Separating day and evening clothes is no longer a fashion ritual, but Maria Grazia was exceptionally skilled in the way that slithers of transparency contrasted with, say, a long, dark coat draped around the waist. From milliner Stephen Jones came mesh veils that seemed sophisticated, rather than traditional visions of women’s hidden faces.https://www.instagram.com/p/BzYYHIYHrdW/?utm_source=ig_embedWith 60-plus outfits almost all in the single shade, the designer set out to treat black as a colour, using mesh, embroidery, herringbone wool, basket weave, lacquer – and so much more. When the colour came through the dark clouds of black there was an element of surprise: a wine red that the designer described as “burgundy to black”. In the finale of evening gowns, all draped across the body, a lacquered matte finish on a pale, fleshy material had a timeless beauty.

But Maria Grazia’s skill is to make clothes for women in our time – not to produce a pastiche of the Christian Dior years, splendid though they might have been back then.

Standing beside the Minister to receive her Légion d’honneur, both women wore black, Maria Grazia in a straight-forward trouser suit. In the same building that afternoon, the Italian designer proved what every Parisian woman believes: there is no substitute for black. But it can have many different facets – not least a contribution to female strength.