John Galliano gave Shanghai a heaping dose of Parisian chic on Saturday night, unveiling Dior’s cruise collection in a massive tent along the city’s iconic Bund. Galliano turned to the Nouvelle Vague cinematic movement for inspiration and channeled the likes of Jean Seaberg, Romy Schneider, Jeanne Moreau and Francoise Hardy. He opened the show with Karlie Kloss in a plissé dress of pink leather and progressed to flirty knit frocks and fresh takes on the bar jacket before closing with a series of dramatic gowns in embroidered silk and organza. “I didn’t want to come here and present a Chinese-inspired collection to my Chinese friends,” the designer said a day before the show, which attracted stars Charlize Theron, Marion Cotillard, Maggie Cheung and Kelis, who also performed a set to a packed after-party. “I’m the ambassador of the house of Dior and I wanted to come here with a French-inspired collection and to show the savoir-faire of France.”
Great collection.