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DIOR SUMMER 2027 during Paris Fashion Week
Jonathan Anderson Takes Dior Into the Tuileries
written ALBAN E. SMAJLI
The Bassin Octogonal in the Jardin des Tuileries almost disappeared beneath Dior’s Summer 2027 set. A narrow white runway crossed the water, mature camphor trees rose from the basin and mist drifted around their trunks, leaving the models to emerge through foliage before coming sharply into view. From the surrounding white pavilion, the construction felt improbably calm for one of Paris Fashion Week’s biggest shows. Water held the reflection of the sky, leaves shifted in the breeze and the clothes registered through movement.
Scenography at Dior Summer 2027
Photo by Adrien Dirand
Guests had already received a clue in the invitation through two wénwán walnuts, objects traditionally rolled in the hand in China until years of handling give their ridged shells a polished patina. Anderson became interested in the knowledge contained in their natural form and in the irregularities that appear within apparent symmetry. Dior’s notes asked how light a garment could become and whether tailoring could be imagined as flou. Those questions shaped the collection directly.
Scenography at Dior Summer 2027
Photo by Adrien Dirand
Scenography at Dior Summer 2027
Photo by Adrien Dirand
The opening looks established the direction of Jonathan Anderson’s Dior with transparent jackets sat over striped shirting, short chiffon skirts lifted as the models walked and wide trousers gave tailoring a relaxed line. Pleated jacquards appeared washed with colour, Chantilly lace was inset into translucent dresses and petals multiplied across jackets until their surfaces trembled with every step. The floral work came into focus once the models moved, with petals lifting from the jackets and changing their outline from one step to the next.
“We are in search of a silhouette,” Anderson said around the show, a line that became visible in the recurring short chiffon skirts and compact jackets. Short skirts appeared beneath compact jackets, sometimes joined by lengths of chiffon falling from an earring or shoulder. Metallic trousers in silver and green cut through the softer passages, and striped shirts brought an everyday familiarity into the collection. A white shawl-collar jacket worn with silver trousers became one of the clearest looks of the show, carrying evening attitude into the daylight of the Tuileries.
Across the collection, houndstooth appeared in sheer chiffon, Murano glass was used for buttons and zippered sandals from John Galliano’s years at Dior returned to the runway, giving Anderson a wide field of references to work through without letting any single period dominate the clothes. Anderson has spent his first year at Dior testing what the house can absorb, and his own description after the show was unusually direct. “This year was about trying to rattle the brand and see what falls out.”
—see the Key Looks
Final at Dior Summer 2027
Photo by Adrien Dirand
Some signatures are already taking shape through cropped proportions, petal work and familiar objects pulled slightly off course. Summer 2027 gave those ideas room to settle into a clearer language and the clothes moved easily outdoors and allowed the workmanship to reveal itself gradually, with the handwork becoming visible through motion.
The show notes ended with a dedication to Mathilde Favier, Dior’s longtime PR director, who died in August. Against the still water and the trees of the Tuileries, that final line gave the collection an unexpectedly personal weight and left the show with a sense of memory held quietly inside it.
all images (c) Dior
