For Maria Grazia Chiuri, the sport—or battle?—never ends
Over is the Paris Olympics—well over—but Maria Grazia Chiuri, it appeared, couldn't play down competitive sports, or a good fight. She has a thing for strong females who are good at armed combat and who dress sportily and, occasionally (or frequently), like a goddess. She started her tenure at Dior in 2016 with her first collection that saluted the fencer. Now, eight years later, she was honouring the archeress. Hours before the show, Dior shared a reel on Instagram of Ms Chiuri at the Louvre, accompanied by a curator, admiring the Roman marble statue, Diana of Versailles (or Artemis), also the Goddess of the Hunt, and not just her draped dress—which was short enough for her active life, an appreciable detail—but also the equipment and weapon of her pursuit/passion. It was not unreasonable to assume where that was to take us. But has she not already been to the ancient sports world?
True enough, for spring/summer 2025, Dior opened the show with an Amazonian figure (she's actually competitive athlete Sagg Napoli), battle-ready, complete with a quiver (made by Dior?) of arrows, slung low at the hip and an intimidating compound bow, taking to the centre runway and shooting cardboard targets. Hippolyte, queen of the Amazon, would surely approve. And while the archeress was putting her marksmanship (or should that be markswomanship?) to the test in a strange elongated glassed cage the length of the runway and FKA twigs singing Eusexua through the sound system (moments in the song of hardcore techno brought to mind the loud beats that Grab Food delivery guys like to blast from their bicycles to get pedestrians out of their way), the models emerged in their Glamazonian finery. The first three, based on the leotard, were asymmetrical across the bodice and shoulders. Subsequent looks saw more leotards worn under dresses or tops with skewed necklines. Formula found.
It was such a mixed bag of sporty looks. Ms Chiuri did not only desire to salute the archeress, she wanted to appreciate the gymnast, the acrobat, the swimmer, the figure skater, the jogger, the stroller, the shopper (shopping, even the Dior customer would say, is a competitive sport!), the motocross racer, the sailor, the dancer, the circus aerialist, the regular gym-goer, the I-want-to-look-sporty non-sportswoman, and, of course, Diana of Versailles (or did she also include Nike, the goddess of victory?). It is not known if these clothes (or the fabrics used) really qualify as performance wear. Or just a hybrid to give an air of active lives. Or, Lululemon on steroids. Naomi Osaka would love the tulle. Between all the sports references were her predictable Dior looks for joining board meetings, attending gallery openings, gracing red-carpet events, even a straight jacket for those so inclined to buy one.
Sports clothing cannot discount the track pants. So Ms Chiuri offered scores (or versions of them), with stripes running down both sides of the legs, a la Adidas, except that she used seven of them parallel lines, three more than Thom Browne, and hers incorporated the Dior logo (in condensed font). Unlikely the legal team at Adidas would come knocking. Talking about the logo, the four letter logotype appeared on the rear of a jacket, taking up the entire space. Some of us here would recognise that as kiasu! Athleticism also meant that clothes need to be worn as if they were just pulled over the head. Or, in the case of Dior, deliberately slanted, tugged to a side, possibly to show movement. As before, Ms Chiuri offered shirts, one worn off the shoulders, held up by straps with crude grommets, and another that was regular collar on one side, but on the other, went under the armpit—the silhouettes of both chemises were not appealing, nor sporty. A winner this collection is not for Dior. Regrettably, even guest star Sagg Napoli could not impress by hitting bull's-eye.
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