Paris — Dior went back to the feisty Teddy Girls of 1950s Britain for its vision of a feminist future in its Paris fashion week show Tuesday.
With black leather jackets, long nipped-waist Dior "New Look" skirts with leather cumberbunds and tartan a-go-go, designer Maria Grazia Chiuri raided the wardrobes of the rebel girls of the early days of rock 'n' roll.
The original royal rebel Princess Margaret -- a Dior addict -- and the proudly proletarian Teddy Girls who were the "queens of the ravaged landscape" of postwar Britain were the two pillars of the Italian creator's autumn winter collection.
She took some of the most feminine clothes of the epoch -- kitten heels with black socks, shiny bucket hats and tight woollen sweaters -- and mixed them with a more masculine and sportswear silhouette.
Chiuri has been on something of a crusade during her time at the most feminine of French labels to make its famously chic clothes simple and adaptable enough for everyday wear.
And you could easily imagine women wearing trainers under even the most intricate of dresses in this collection.
The Teddy Girls were the punks of their time, "impertinent characters with wild quiffs who wore Edwardian-style men's jackets with ample skirts, jeans and black leather jackets," the designer said.
"London always represents tradition and at the same time the breaking with tradition," Chiuri told AFP.
The show was a long love letter to the iconoclasm of British style, and comes as a exhibition about Dior at the V&A museum in London has become a sold-out hit.
"I tried to create pieces in this collection in which everyone can express themselves in their own way by using different combinations while respecting the codes of the brand," Chiuri said.
Since her debut collection in 2017 -- when she made headlines with a "We Should All Be Feminists" T-shirt -- Dior's first female designer has put down a ladder to omen artists and writers. — AFP
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