Dior takes a folksy turn at haute couture fashion week in Paris

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Models swept down the runway Monday in loose braids and patchwork opera coats, trim jackets and long dresses with billowing sleeves. The garments served as blank canvasses of sorts, in soft, neutral colors — beige wool gabardines, cotton canvas and black velvet — for the stylized floral embroideries that trickled down shoulders and wound around skirts, rising up from the hemlines.

Ukrainian artist Olesia Trofymenko filled the show venue in the garden of the Rodin Museum with artwork, towering photographic images of landscapes overlaid with embroidered flowers, outlining the shapes of people who might have been there. The French fashion house, one of the labels owned by LVMH, will leave the exhibit open to the public, in keeping with a tradition it started with a Judy Chicago display in 2020.

A model presents a creation by designer Maria Grazia Chiuri as part of her Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2022-2023 collection show for fashion house Dior in Paris. (REUTERS/Johanna Geron)

The artwork and the fashion carried an underlying theme – the tree of life, a universal symbol interpreted in different styles across cultures.

Chiuri described the notion as carrying a mystical quality that people can turn to “in difficult times.”

The patterns had a slightly retro flair. Chiuri considered local traditions and how flower patterns are interpreted around the world.

“I think all these dresses have some aspect in common. Very often they are in embroidery, very often they are ornamented with flowers. There really is a connection with life,” she said.

Sigourney Weaver and Naomi Watts were among guests in the packed front row.

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