Dior recently released the 2025 Spring/Summer Haute Couture collection, where creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri breaks the timeline, wandering between the past, present, and future, appreciating fashion and art from a different perspective.
Creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri continued her collaboration with female artists for this haute couture show. Upon entering the venue, one can see Indian artist Rithika Merchant’s painting “The Flowers We Grew,” translated into a large embroidery piece by Chanakya International Workshop and Craft School as a backdrop. The artwork depicts a surreal garden, nurturing various extraordinary flowers and fantastical creatures, symbolizing boundless nature and feminine energy.
The design inspiration is derived from the works of American surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning, specifically her 1943 piece “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and “Alice in Wonderland.” In this whimsical collection filled with joy, dreams, and playful imagery, Maria Grazia Chiuri presents an imaginative worldview for the 2025 Spring/Summer Dior Haute Couture collection. This collection connects with the Trapèze silhouette conceived by Mr. Yves Saint Laurent for Dior in 1958, as well as the exquisite styles crafted from the original snow-patterned silk fabric used in Mr. Christian Dior’s Autumn/Winter 1952 Haute Couture collection, Cigale. It invites everyone to embark on a reflective journey about time, dreams, and the essence of fashion.
The modern practical version of the crinoline evokes memories, satisfying the wildest fantasies and patterns. The swaying crinoline conceals its structure, the lines stretch and ebb with every movement, like embroidered branches. Despite hiding its structure, it still elevates the floral embroidery on women’s shirts. The visible corset and pleated mini skirt are unforgettable. The Cigale style designed by Mr. Dior for the 1952-1953 Autumn-Winter Haute Couture collection is reinterpreted here in the original rippled silk fabric, used for a mini skirt paired with a tailored tailcoat, highlighting sharply contrasting proportions. The cape is adorned with feathers made from organza.
It’s worth mentioning that this season, Maria Grazia Chiuri has drawn inspiration for the 2025 Spring/Summer Haute Couture collection from the Trapèze collection created by Mr. Yves Saint Laurent in 1958. The A-line silhouette has become one of the key shapes for outerwear this season: “I found that the concept he designed for this collection is an enlarged interpretation of children’s clothing,” Maria Grazia Chiuri stated. She has based the colors on beige and black, allowing the imagination to expand and roam freely, narrating her artistic exploration through material transformations and the embroidery craftsmanship of haute couture.
In addition, in the worldview of Dior, floral elements are indispensable. The three-dimensional cut of the strapless dress with rose twists and the skirts elegantly bloom on the runway. Floral ruffles are showcased in styles like capes and voluminous skirts. The soft fabrics possess a unique power, allowing feminine charm to take on its most vibrant form through the richness of the materials.
Dior 2025 Spring/Summer Haute Couture’s another major feature is the collaboration with renowned milliner Stephan Jones, who has created feather headpieces reminiscent of free-spirited birds as the focal point. In Maria Grazia Chiuri’s perspective, women can bloom delicately like flowers, while also embracing punk-inspired hairstyles, soaring freely as they wish. Similar to the immersive artworks found in the performance space, the artist Rithika Merchant’s bird totems depict freedom and wildness.
