Whoever got the idea of bringing the white-coated seamstresses and tailors of Dior’s ateliers to take the final bow at yesterday’s catwalk show definitely did a very sensible thing, handling a difficult catwalk show rather well.
After all, the people from the atelier team are the ones who designers should be thanking since, without them, their vision wouldn’t exist. Yet they rarely get the attention they deserve.
Take the Galliano incident: in the last few days the fashion world was divided between outraged people and superficial fashionistas who couldn’t care less because having their picture taken while wearing a perfectly matching outfit at Paris Fashion Week seemed much more important than expressing their opinion about Galliano's Nazi sympathies.
When the House of Dior suspended Galliano there were even some people who wondered if suspending someone on allegation was hasty.
Yet while we were accusing, defending or just not simply caring, not many of us really thought about the stress the ordinary people working behind the scenes at the House of Dior were actually going.
Since the early beginning of the French fashion scenes, what truly made the difference between the French maisons and other fashion houses were the skilled hands of the artisans working for them, too often completely forgotten in the last few years to give more space to flamboyant designers with a magnetic charisma.
Now things seem to have reversed. Before the show started, Dior’s chief executive Sidney Toledano spoke about the recent events, stating “What has happened over the last week has been a terrible and wrenching ordeal for us all. It has been deeply painful to see the Dior name associated with the disgraceful statements attributed to its designer, however brilliant he may be. Such statements are intolerable because of our collective duty to never forget the Holocaust and its victims, and because of the respect for human dignity that is owed to each person and to all peoples.”
Toledano also remembered the audience how Dior’s own sister was deported to Buchenwald and added that the heart of Dior – that is the teams, studios, seamstresses and craftsmen – beats unseen.
The catwalk show then opened with long billowing capes and hooded cloaks matched with cropped leather jackets and velvet breeches, accessorised with floppy felt hats and leather bags and worn with over-the-knee platform laced-up boots, strong daywear that mixed in one ensemble luxurious materials such as cashmere, brocade, fur and velvet.
Frilly skirts, silk bloomers decorated with bows at the hips, short and romantic chiffon, lace and tulle dresses trimmed with fox and mink fur and transparent evening gowns decorated with delicate embroideries and inspired by lingerie followed.
Sober but rich shades such as bordeaux, dark green, brown and teal prevailed in the daywear, while pastel colours were favoured in the ethereal and romantic looks that – it must be said – were definitely less theatrical and original than the ensembles from the first part of the catwalk show.
So what will happen in Dior’s future now? Rumours are rife at the moment and the designer lottery is officially open.
I honestly wish the House of Dior wouldn’t be run by just one flamboyant designer, but by a team of skilled seamstresses and tailors, by people who wouldn’t end up on rehab for alcohol or drugs, who didn’t crack up along the way for pressures, money issues, elitism and other idiotic behaviours.
Sure, being a fashion designer is not easy, the pressures are enormous, but it’s not as difficult as being on the frontline in A&E, working as a surgeon in a war zone or seeing people dying in third world countries because basic medicines or food are not available.
As much as naïve as this may sound, going back to quality without focusing on one person could save Dior’s reputation. Who knows, maybe the atelier of the future may end up being a hotbed for talented and skilled hardworking people, with fewer celebrities and a collective vision (and, Mr Toledano, it would even be cheaper...).
Guess if these seamstresses and tailors have been “carrying on the values and visions of Monsieur Dior,” as Toledano said, Dior himself would probably approve such a choice.
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