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DIOR – Autumn Winter 2020-2021 Haute Couture Collection

Art will always triumph in the end, even during these unprecedented times. Defying the Covid-19 pandemic, Maison Dior presented its haute couture collection for Fall-Winter 2020-2021 in an exclusive film broadcast live on its digital channels. Drawing inspiration from female surrealists, Maria Grazia Chiuri, Creative Director of Dior women’s collections, seized the opportunity to express alternative visions of femininity through the prism of the fashion doll.

Autumn Winter 2020-2021 Haute Couture Collection

“Surrealist images manage to make visible what is in itself invisible. I am interested in mystery and magic, which are also a way of exorcising uncertainty about the future,” says Maria Grazia Chiuri of her Fall-Winter 2020-2021 haute couture collection for Maison Dior. Taking inspiration from the work of artists like Lee Miller, Dora Maar and Jacqueline Lamba, the Italian designer champions less conventional versions of femininity. In their work, these artists transcended the role of “muse”, going beyond its merely aesthetic dimension.

The collection is embarking on a world tour in a magic trunk replicating Maison Dior’s historic address at 30, avenue Montaigne. The pieces are presented on miniature mannequins, a poetic emblem at the heart of the couture universe, which has previously been appropriated by artists such as Cindy Sherman, who featured this near-magical object in one of her first video projects. The fashion doll is also a reference to the Théâtre de la Mode, a roving exhibition of miniature designs by the greatest couturiers of the day, which toured Europe and America just after the Second World War.

This daring presentation represented a challenge for the Dior ateliers, which had to create flawlessly executed pieces on a miniature scale. Every handmade pleat and fold celebrates the beauty of an elegant, precise gesture, which is the very essence of couture.

Many pieces from the Fall-Winter 2020-2021 haute couture collection were inspired by nature, such as those displaying spectacular gradations of red, like a coral reef swaying in the glimmer of the ocean. The luminous, dreamlike hues of paintings by Leonora Carrington and Dorothea Tanning come to life on the designs of Maria Grazia Chiuri. The finale is equally dazzling, with a sumptuous wedding gown reviving one of fashion’s forgotten traditions.

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Kendall Jenner in Burberry’s new summer campaign.

Capturing the journey of reality to fantasy is Burberry’s new TB Summer Monogram collection designed by Chief Creative Officer Riccardo Tisci. Starring supermodel Kendall Jenner, the campaign blends dreamlike CGI with geometric worlds inspired by skate parks and swimming pools. Shot at home by Kendall on her computer, the campaign embodies the free-spirited collection and the optimism of summer.

Kendall Jenner in Burberry’s new summer campaign.

To introduce the new collection, Riccardo Tisci has called upon a cast of iconic British creatives – British photographer Nick Knight, art director Peter Saville and stylist Katy England – to realise his vision for the TB Summer Monogram campaign, starring Kendall.

A journey from reality to fantasy, the campaign blends real-life capture with a dreamlike digital world inspired by geometric skateparks and swimming pools, in which Kendall brings to life four distinctive characters through our summer capsule of womenswear and menswear pieces. The CGI film is juxtaposed with a series of raw self-portraits captured at home by Kendall.

The summer-inspired collection features luxury quilted Lola bags made from an environmentally conscious material primarily made using renewable resources. Bumbags, totes and a limited edition monogram surfboard also feature in the collection.

Riccardo Tisci paid tribute to fashion house founder, Thomas Burberry with bold interlocking TB initials printed in cobalt blue with orange accents. Speaking on the new collection, Kendall Jenner said, “Riccardo wanted to collaborate closely with me to bring this collection to life in a number of ways – he encouraged me to interpret the campaign myself, which was such an exciting opportunity! I loved being able to add my own personal touch to the campaign as I captured the collection through a series of self-portraits that I took at home.”

The Chief Creative Officer also spoke on the collection stating, “‘This is my second monogram collection at Burberry and for me, the collection is all about celebrating the strength of the duality of feminine and masculine energy, blurring the lines and exploring this notion of youthful expression.”

more Burberry.com

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PAINTED IN PRADA: PRADA WOMENSWEAR PRE-FALL 2020 ADV CAMPAIGN

The power of the hand and the impact of image; the intimacy of clothing; the power and positivity of color. And the blurring of reality with digital, something now being experienced everyday – a new idea of intimacy, a surreality reflective of these very particular times. The Pre-Fall 2020 Prada campaign is engineered to react to a changed world, reflecting a fusion of the human hand and eye with technology – each equally important, a hybrid means of communication, expression and creativity.

PAINTED IN PRADA: PRADA WOMENSWEAR PRE-FALL 2020 ADV CAMPAIGN

Conceived and created together with the Prada Fall / Winter 2020 collection of men’s clothing presented in January, in the Fall 2020 pre-collection, the color recalibrates the classic garments to give them a new topicality, a surreal atmosphere.

The campaign images and video combine hand-painted watercolors with digital art. The silhouettes of the garments are converted into “paint by numbers” layers, to make energetic explorations of color with a dozen of Prada’s characteristic shades such as light blue, pink, yellow, orange, green, etc.

Conceived and created alongside the Prada Fall/Winter 2020 menswear collection presented in January, for Pre-Fall 2020 color recalibrates classic garments, to give outfits a new actuality, a surreal ambiance. For the accompanying campaign, photographed in London on 13 February 2020 by David Sims and painted in New York during the following weeks, physicality is questioned: the collection’s vibrant colors are isolated, abstracted, pushed center stage, highlighting their material essence and their disarming simplicity. Colorful clothes become pure color, color challenges the classic form of the photographs.

The images and campaign films combine hand-painted watercolors with digital artistry. David Sims’ black and white images of Freja Beha Erichsen act as monochrome canvasses for a subsequent
intervention, creative expression via saturated color, applied with improvised spontaneity over the image. The silhouettes of the clothes, their seams and patterns, become ‘paint by numbers’ frames for energetic explorations of color – a dozen Prada-ist shades of Celeste blue, pink, yellow, orange, green and more.

The campaign films propose another twist, transforming the model into the maker: Beha Erichsen determines her own image, her own authorship, brushing color onto her clothes and accessories in a surrealist gesture, simultaneously bringing them and her to life. These films will also give life to a multi-layered narrative through digital portals and the Prada Instagram.

At a moment where our experience of society and culture is defined by the picture plane – computers, phones, television and magazine pages – with people at a remove from one another, this campaign takes inspiration from the accidental, the imperfection of handcraft and the unfinished nature of human interaction. Blurring lines between the photographic and the painterly, between technology and humanity, it is a subconscious echo of our moment. The joy of color via the joy of technology – both a means of communicating a message, immediately. Ultimately, that message is positivity – a fantasy, painted in Prada colors.

Credits: PRADA
Creative Direction by Ferdinando Verderi
Photography by David Sims
Styling by Olivier Rizzo
Films by Ferdinando Verderi

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HERMÈS - Summits of silk
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HERMÈS – Summits of silk

Mufflers slalom, ties scale the slopes, and scarves set off at full speed, before tying things up in a controlled skid before the finish line!

HERMÈS – Summits of silk

Attitudes at altitude

High Flyer

HERMÈS - Summits of silk
HERMÈS - Summits of silk
HERMÈS - Summits of silk
HERMÈS - Summits of silk
HERMÈS - Summits of silk
HERMÈS - Summits of silk
HERMÈS - Summits of silk

You’re the pilot! With its optical illusion, this High Flyer 140 scarf designed by Dimitri Rybaltchenko soars over the peaks in a helicopter, taking you to the top. In a characteristic touch, the designer has incorporated a few hidden references to Hermès, including the Ulysse notebook and Rodéo bag accessory.

AAAAARGH!

Sixty-eight million years later, designer Alice Shirley has reinvented the most fascinating prehistoric animal of all: the tyrannosaurus, better known as T-Rex. This 100 scarf creates a half-terrifying, half-fun look. With its graphic jaw, icy-blue stare and mesmerising scales, here is one dinosaur that certainly doesn’t fear the ice age!

 

 
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