The Christian Dior Spring 2023 Haute Couture runway show, with staging by African-American artist Mickalene Thomas, celebrates black and mixed-race women like Joséphine Baker, who breake racial barriers and going against the grain. She unveils the deep meaning of this collection and shakes up the vision of haute couture, the essence of fashion that can become a radical gesture of awareness of its own value and strength.

The cozy, intimate dressing room that precedes her entrance on stage is evoked by a series of coats, reminiscent of the bathrobe, which conceals and protects. Made of light velvet, crumpled and dynamic, or quilted, they open onto pieces of light satin underwear that transform into protagonists themselves, their powdered hues and black providing a contemporary interpretation of 1950s classics.

The clothes glide over the body and caress it. In silk, in velvet, often with a creased effect, a syncopated rhythm, breathing vitality into the fabric. The embroidery is delicate. Tiny silver studs and sequins occupy the space and absorb the runway lights to reflect them onto the audience. Fringes in shades of silver and gold accompany and magnify the choreography of the movements sketched by the body. The suits and coats pay tribute to the masculine fabrics dear to Monsieur Dior. The length, always above the ankle, reveals shoes with heels and imposing soles.

Boasting a sensational lineup of Stars in Dior – including JISOO, Anya Taylor-Joy, Elizabeth Debicki, Rosamund Pike, Kirsten Dunst, Yara Shahidi, Rachel Zegler and Chiara Ferragni – discover what some of our special guests had to say about their experience at the Dior Couture Spring- 2023 show by Maria Grazia Chiuri.