Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri explores the world of fairy tales with a narrative projected into the future for the Christian Dior Fall 2021 RTW collection.

The toy soldier’s uniform thus transforms into a series of blue cashmere coats embellished with touches of red and white. Shimmering lamé and Lurex jacquards lend this stylized silhouette a metallic shine; fabrics made with gold and silver threads appear to float as if by magic. Black boldly asserts itself on a range of pieces from skirts to the Bar jacket punctuated with the cannage motif, an iconic Dior code, or with a hood that might have been worn by Angela Carter’s Little Red Riding Hood.

Red is a through line, on little coats it illuminates capes and raincoats always with hoods. It permeates tartans via an archival rose motif evoking the original tale of Beauty and the Beast, of which Maria Grazia Chiuri is particularly fond, notably in Jean Cocteau’s film adaptation, itself inspired by the fairy tales of two writers: Madame d’Aulnoy, a contemporary of Perrault, and Madame Leprince de Beaumont. Evening gowns are fit for princesses, in layered tulles that seem to evaporate in a froth of marvelous colors. Then there are white collars, plastrons in broderie anglaise, and white bobby socks recalling the world of childhood.

For makeup, Peter Philips creates a look with emphasis on the eyes, accentuated by a pictorial smoky eye with subtle nuances, for the Fall collection.

“I emphasized the eyes by creating a variation on an intense smoky eye, brightened by blending out the eyeshadow. I wanted the eyes to be dark and poetic, in harmony with the mysterious, fairy tale atmosphere of this collection, spectacularly presented in the Château de Versailles,” says Philips.

Watch this behind-the-scenes video from the virtual Dior women’s ready-to-wear show and hear the answers of the models, crew members and petites mains who contributed to the magical production, staged at the Palace of Versailles, and inspired by themes ranging from “Beauty and the Beast” to “Sleeping Beauty”.