I saw the trailer for Dior & I about 7 months ago and knew that I had to watch it. However, I never actually got round to seeing it as I got really busy and had to push it to the back of my mind. Therefore, you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I received my timetable for Fresher's Week at university and saw that one of our activities was a trip to the Odeon Cinema to see it.
The documentary exceeded my expectations and truly blew me away, even causing me to get a tad emotional when I was watching one of the final scenes where the whole collection came together. It really highlights Christian Dior's brand that he managed to create within the 10 years that he was physically a part of the journey, and the other 60 years where he was still very much in spirit whilst other creative directors came through to design their interpretation of his work. Previous creative directors have included the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano, but this particular film follows the journey of Raf Simons as he prepares to showcase his first ever haute couture collection for the AW12 season for Dior.
Raf Simons' vision was to capture the essence of Christian Dior's original designs whilst also bringing in modern elements, such as the prints he chose and the makeup and accessories of the models. Raf was a huge fan of American artist, Sterling Ruby, and had previously worked with him on other projects. This caused him to be greatly inspired by Ruby's paintings and inevitably create satin fabrics with images of four of them which were used to create three dresses and a coat. The documentary gives an exclusive look into the difficulties that Raf faced trying to achieve the woven fabrics that he wanted. This showed me that no matter how impossible a situation may seem, you can overcome it if you are persistent and keep trying.
I really enjoyed gaining an insight into the work of a haute couture fashion house, and learning just how hard the atelier work in order to ensure that the final result is nothing but sheer perfection. It is such a rare opportunity to be able to see the small, close-knit team working, so I really appreciated it and definitely felt inspired by it. The premieres of the atelier, Florence and Monique, were such different personalities but they loved their role and managed their teams effectively, which definitely shows with the immaculate condition of the collection when it hit the runway. The atelier are a significant part of the fashion house, alongside Raf Simons and his right-hand man Pieter Mulier.
The final collection was beautifully displayed in a private house where Raf decided to adorn the walls with thousands of different flowers. This was truly breathtaking and brought all of the different colours, prints and textures of the collection to life. Each room was a completely different atmosphere because of the variety in colour and species of flower. This also made the show a lot more intimate, and the audience were a lot closer to the garments than they usually would be at your average fashion show.
Overall, the film was shot amazingly and offered a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most prestige aspects of the fashion industry. I would highly recommend it if you haven't seen it already as it will leave you feeling very inspired and ignite a real love for the precise detailing of haute couture fashion.
It has also left me wanting to watch more pieces of fashion film, so I will definitely be doing that in my spare time and reviewing them on my blog! Thank you so much for reading, and if you have any fashion film/documentary recomendations then contact me on my social media platforms or leave a comment below:
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