A photo of Christian Dior’s original salon stretched the width of the Invalides, the gold-domed palace where Napoleon is buried, offering a fish-eye view of the past to the throngs shrieking outside — and a sign of just where Dior believes it belongs in the pantheon of French power.
Inside, dove-gray velvet lined the walls of a temporary event space and displayed two rare 18th-century oils by Jean Siméon Chardin on loan from the National Galleries of Scotland and the Louvre. Robert Pattinson gossiped with Josh O’Connor. Donatella Versace schmoozed with Roger Federer. A pregnant Rihanna arrived with ASAP Rocky a mere 45 minutes after the official start time.
That’s how much anticipation there was for the Dior men’s show. The filmmaker Luca Guadagnino was even trailing around to document the moment.
It was Jonathan Anderson’s debut as the creative director/savior of the house, the first designer to be put in charge of both men’s and women’s wear. And under all the buzz, a giant question mark hovered: Could the former Loewe wunderkind reignite excitement not just in the brand but in fashion?
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