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Christian Dior Couture Fall 2012 Front Row
Dior

The Scene at Raf Simons's Dior Couture Debut

Designers, editors, socialites, and royalty were among those who watched Raf Simons's debut couture show for Christian Dior at a flower-filled Paris mansion Monday.
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Christian Dior Couture Fall 2012 Front Row

Designers, editors, socialites, and royalty were among those who watched Raf Simons's debut couture show for Christian Dior at a flower-filled Paris mansion Monday. The high turnout seems almost as significant as the garments themselves: Cathy Horyn noted that having such a large number of fellow designers in attendance — the group included legends Pierre Cardin, Azzedine Alaia, Diane von Furstenberg, Alber Elbaz, Riccardo Tisci, Donatella Versace, Marc Jacobs, and Simons's Dior Homme counterpart Kris Van Assche — was "surely a first in fashion."

Anna Wintour and Hamish Bowles were also at the show — Wendi Murdoch sat between them — and so were fellow editors Grace Coddington, Glenda Bailey, Alexandra Shulman, Stefano Tonchi, and Edward Enninful. Emanuelle Alt said she hadn't "been this excited to see a show in a long time. Today I'm going to see something I've never seen before." When Derek Blasberg saw Marion Cotillard, Stella Tennant, and Charlotte Rampling arrive at the show, he observed, "Raf is one popular boy!"

Popular indeed. Bernard Arnault, who owns Christian Dior, attended the show with his daughter Delphine — sat next to Princess Charlene of Monaco — his son Antoine, and Antoine's girlfriend Natalia Vodianova.

Despite favorable reviews and warm accolades in general, the applause at the end of the show was described by some as "lackluster." Simons himself may not have noticed — the designer "only waved for a second and left."

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Dior Couture Fall 2012 Collection
Dior

Christian Dior Couture Fall 2012

A series of rooms filled with an abundance of flowers set the stage for Raf Simons's thoroughly modern couture debut at Christian Dior.
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Dior Couture Fall 2012 Collection

A series of rooms filled with an abundance of flowers set the stage for Raf Simons's thoroughly modern couture debut at Christian Dior. But even though the blooms, arranged by color across five salons, were mesmerizing — Anna Wintour was overheard saying to Grace Coddington, "Isn't this amazing? A million flowers." — their beauty didn't distract from the glory of the show.

With respectful nods to the house's past, Simons created a collection that interpreted Christian Dior's 1947 design aesthetic for women living in 2012. Some said the collection represented a New New Look, and with its generous peplums and updated versions of wasp-waisted dresses and balloon-skirted gowns, this collection certainly belongs to that tradition.

The backs of some dresses were covered in reproductions of Dior's archival embroidery patterns, while the fronts were decorated with Simons's version of the same embellishments. Pastel feathers were used in the embroidery work to inject the house's signature colors into the offering. Cathy Horyn tweeted a picture of the house's classic bar jacket, which was treated with black beads that looked like caviar and paired with cigarette pants. The garments that were left unadorned — like a slim strapless cocktail dress in pale pink — displayed subtle details like gentle pleating. Derek Blasberg proclaimed that "in the last 13 minutes, Raf Simons just single-handedly altered the contemporary haute couture landscape."

Other important faces in the industry, including Alber Elbaz, Pierre Cardin, Stefano Tonchi, Franca Sozzani, Marc Jacobs, Donatella Versace, and Azzedine Alaia, attended the show. Diane von Furstenberg said the offering was "superb" and exclaimed "another talented Belgian!" Nina Garcia, meanwhile, said Simons's show was "beautiful, perfect, and simple." And it was.

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What to Expect From Raf Simons First Dior Show
Dior

What to Expect From Raf Simons's First Dior Show

Raf Simons's first couture show for Dior will be "exciting, beautiful, and new," according to milliner Stephen Jones, who is producing the hats for the July 2 runway spectacle.
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Raf Simons's first couture show for Dior will be "exciting, beautiful, and new," according to milliner Stephen Jones, who is producing the hats for the July 2 runway spectacle.

"His aesthetic is informing what I do. I'm very excited," said Jones, who made hats for both John Galliano and Raf Simons's shows in the past. "I've known him on and off for years and people had kept saying we needed to get together and eventually, yes, now we're working together and on the biggest stage in the world."

Pressed for specific details about the show, Jones said, "That's so top secret, I can't even give you a hint."

Shortly after Simons was appointed Dior's couturier, he told WWD that he was interested in exploring the romantic side of his traditionally minimalist design aesthetic.

“I wouldn't go to that place if I only had minimalism in mind," he said. "I'm very aware of what the environment is about."

Photo: A model walking during Raf Simons's last show for Jil Sander.

Vogue Thailand to Launch in 2013
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Vogue's New Edition, Karl Lagerfeld's Nautical Excursion, and Karlie Kloss's Prom

Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.
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Those stories and more in our daily news roundup.

  • Vogue announced that it plans to open an edition in Thailand, confirming rumors that first surfaced in April. Former Elle Thailand editor in chief Kullawit Laosuksri will lead the magazine, making him the only male editor in chief of one of Vogue's 21 international editions. [Vogue UK]

  • Was that Karl Lagerfeld taking a trip on a fishing trawler in the Baltic Sea? No — it was comedian Jörg Knör, dressed up in the Chanel couturier's white wig and sunglasses while filming a skit for German TV. [The Cut]

  • Karlie Kloss was lucky enough to wear a Dior gown to her prom. "It was so much fun," she said. "My prom date was hysterical. He was about eleven inches shorter than me. Maybe a solid foot. I bought him a tie to match. We were a very cute couple." [Fashionista]

  • Annabelle Dexter Jones follows her godmother's beauty advice — "She always told me, 'You must moisturize every day.'" — with lotions from Santa Maria Novella and Kiehl's. [Into The Gloss]

  • Joseph Altuzarra's mother, Karen, said not knowing anything about the fashion industry actually helped her become a better CEO for her son's business. "It meant we had some control over our own growth," she said. [Material World]
Dior Couture Fall 2012 Show Date and Location
Dior

Raf Simons Seeking New Venue For Dior Couture Show

It's said that Raf Simons will show his debut Fall 2012 Couture collection for Dior next month in a vacant mansion in Paris, eschewing the house's traditional show venues.
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It's said that Raf Simons will show his debut Fall 2012 Couture collection for Dior next month in a vacant mansion in Paris, eschewing the house's traditional show venues. Simons is rumored to have selected a house on the Avenue d'Iéna, one of the streets that converges at the Arc de Triomphe. According to the official Couture Week schedule, Dior will show the collection twice on July 2: once to customers and once to the press.

In the past, Dior has staged its Couture shows in the gardens of the Rodin Museum, or in its couture salons on the Avenue Montaigne.

Photo: The finale of Dior's Spring 2013 Couture show.

Dior Addict Daphne Groeneveld Video
Editor's Pick

Daphne Groeneveld Channels Brigitte Bardot in Dior's Newest Video

Ah, to be young, French, and beautiful — that's the image Daphne Groeneveld evokes in the new short film for Dior's Addict fragrance.
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Ah, to be young, French, and beautiful — that's the image Daphne Groeneveld evokes in the new short film for Dior's Addict fragrance.

The two-minute "director's cut" clip, directed by Jonas Akerlund, shows Groeneveld dancing around to Stereo Total's "I Love You, Ono" on the French Riviera. First she languishes on the beach in a tiny black bikini, looking like a modern version of Brigitte Bardot in Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman. Later, she puts on a black t-shirt and jeans to head into town. Groeneveld turns heads when she wears one of the house's red leather skirts into a bar, where she sparks an impromptu dance party that spills into the street.

A look at the video, in all its French New Wave glory, below.

Raf Simons i-D Magazine Summer 2012 Cover Picture
Dior

Raf Simons Is on the Summer 2012 Cover of i-D Magazine

Newly appointed Dior couturier Raf Simons will grace the cover of i-D magazine's Summer 2012 issue.
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Newly appointed Dior couturier Raf Simons will grace the cover of i-D magazine's Summer 2012 issue. The cover photo, lensed by Willy Vanderperre, features Simons breaking through a wall of black and white flowers wearing clothing from his eponymous menswear label, styled by Olivier Rizzo. The one cover line of the "Lights, Camera, Action"-themed issue reads, "It's Show Time! Starring Raf Simons." An online teaser for the issue promises a story written by i-D contributor Holly Shackleton. The issue is available for preorder on May 7 and hits newsstands on May 10.

Photo courtesy of i-D magazine.

Dior Secret Garden Full Film Fall 2012 (Video)
Dior

Watch: The Full Dior Secret Garden Film

It's finally here — and it's totally gorgeous.
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It's finally here — and it's totally gorgeous. Filmed in Versailles by fashion image masters Inez and Vinoodh, Dior's latest film, Secret Garden, features models Daria Strokous, Melissa Stasiuk, and Xiao Wen Ju running like mad through the breathtaking hallways and gardens of the famed chateau. Dressed (and at times also slightly undressed) in the label's pre-Fall 2012 collection, the girls are the picture of elegance, while Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence" provides the perfect, haunting soundtrack.



This isn't the first time the iconic label has used Versailles as inspiration. Christian Dior made direct reference to the palace in several of his first collections, and in 1955 even created an embroidery thread which he dubbed the "Versailles gold braid." In 2007, the house's then designer John Galliano staged the label's 60th anniversary couture show in the palace's Orangerie. More recently, the 2011 Dior J'adore fragrance ad starring Charlize Theron was filmed by Jean-Jacques Annaud in the castle's storied Hall of Mirrors.

See the latest Dior-Versailles endeavor below, and for more Versailles-gorgeousness, see our roundup of Versailles-shot fashion editorials.

Video courtesy of Dior

Dior Secret Garden Teaser Pre-Fall 2012 [Video]
Dior

Sneak Peek: See the Teaser For Dior's Secret Garden Film

This season's Dior film won't be released until May 3, but here's a look at the exclusive teaser.
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This season's Dior film won't be released until May 3, but here's a look at the exclusive teaser. Titled Secret Garden, the sneak peek shows models Daria Strokous, Melissa Stasiuk, and Xiao Wen Ju strolling eerily through the gilded hallways of Versailles wearing the label's Fall 2012 collection. Set to the tune of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence," the mostly black-and-white teaser is punctuated by flashes of color, which reveal each girl's underpinnings — or new outfits entirely — as she walks and poses. Words are very unnecessary, indeed.
Video courtesy of Dior.

Raf Simons and Kris Van Assche Don't Hang Out
Dior

Dior Designers Raf Simons and Kris Van Assche Aren't Exactly Buddies Yet

>> Raf Simons has been the artistic director of the women's division of Dior for a few weeks now but hasn't spent much of that time with his menswear counterpart Kris Van Assche.
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>> Raf Simons has been the artistic director of the women's division of Dior for a few weeks now but hasn't spent much of that time with his menswear counterpart Kris Van Assche.

Van Assche, seen above, hosted a party at the Dior men's pop-up store in New York this weekend and told WWD that he and Simons have "never been in the same place at the same time so we never got close. But I hugely admire his work."

Both men are Belgian designers who got famous for their innovative menswear, but Van Assche says that just because he and Simons come from common backgrounds doesn't mean that they have a similar aesthetic.

"I think it’s a bit of a cliché, no?" he said of that idea. He added that Simons's appointment is "great news. Let's just wait and see how he decides to express himself."

Simons was named as John Galliano's successor at Dior in early April. He'd been creative director of Jil Sander since 2005 but was ousted when Sander herself returned as the brand's designer. Van Assche was Hedi Slimane's first assistant at Dior Homme and left to present his first menswear collection in 2005. He was named design director at Dior Homme in 2007.

Photo: Kris Van Assche takes a bow at the Fall 2012 show for his eponymous menswear label.