Dior Unveils New Collection with Ethereal Horror

Amidst the moonlit woods of the Palais de Versailles, an occult weirdness stirs.

Slender, pale figures twist through the grasping, leafless trees as if emerging from the darkest recesses of the human imagination. Their languid contortions barely disturb the heavy, clinging fog around them and they bramble as one toward the slumbering château. Inside, a lone grandfather clock tolls as the witching hour falls upon the land and the dead rise to roam the deserted halls once more.

So begins the theatrical reveal of Dior’s latest women’s Autumn/Winter ready-to-wear collection. Headed by creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri, ‘Beauté Dérangeante’ —Disturbing Beauty—harkens to the grim folkloric origins of our favourite fairytales and the magnetic, feminine power that undergirds them. Read on for a deeper look at the enchanting, ethereal setting of the show as well as some of the standout looks on display.

The Setting

Chiuri’s theatrical show takes place mainly within the walls of the sublime and imposing Château of Versailles, transported to a parallel world by its own long shadows thrown by the cold light of the moon. The ghostly throng of dancers charts its way in fluid, uncertain steps ever toward the unseen heart of the moonlit halls. Calling to mind the usual precession of spectators and industry commentators flocking to Fashion Week events, the dancers paint an eerie reflection of the not-so-distant past.

This evocative and haunting performance was conceived on-site by world-renowned dancer and choreographer Sharon Eyal. A long time collaborator of Maria Grazia’s, Eyal developed this show opening through an artistic and emotive dialogue with Dior’s new collection and the halls of Versailles itself.

The spectacular ‘Hall of Mirrors’ at Versailles was given a perverse makeover as the centre stage of Dior’s theatrical display: Its grandiose, titular wall now crowded in by waxy thorned mirrors; its once prismatic crystal chandeliers hanging like dull, suspended tears above the beshadowed parquet. The grim transformation of this regal hall into a darkly beautiful nightmare was the spellbinding work of Italian artist Silvia Giambrone, whose sculpture art explores the power and violence that shapes our conceptions of the feminine body.

One by one, otherworldly figures march through this mournful scene bearing the midnight blue, blood red and skeletal white of Dior’s striking new collection.