Stars line up for debut of Dior’s first female designer

PARIS / AP

Rihanna and Natalie Portman dressed to the nines. Jennifer Lawrence opted for jeans. And most of the stars passed unnoticed amid the sea of celebrities awash inside Paris’ Rodin Museum on Friday.
The great equalizer for them all was a chance to glimpse one of the year’s biggest fashion spectacles: the hugely-awaited debut from Christian Dior’s first female designer. But were the high expectations met? Here are the highlights of Friday’s Spring-Summer 2017 ready-to-wear collections.

CHRISTIAN DIOR’S “NEW LEXICON”
Being the first woman in history to head up one of the most influential dressers of women in history, Maria Grazia Chiuri certainly had to make a statement during her first Dior show. Make it she did. Most debuts at storied fashion labels pay homage to the house DNA — and this should especially be the case at grand Dior, which saved post-war French fashion with 1947’s groundbreaking “New Look.”
But in Friday’s show, Grazia Chiuri, the former Valentino designer, was having none of it. Gone were the references to the famed Bar Jacket, the full, thick A-line skirt, and any flavors of the post-War style. In its place was what the program notes termed a whole “new lexicon” of style, and Grazia Chiuri did indeed give the collection her unique stamp.
Sadly, the designs themselves fell a little
flat and not sufficiently vibrant to live up
to the bold move away from the DNA. To her credit, Grazia Chiuri made a creative attempt to explore gender boundaries by channeling the uniforms of fencers with quilted embroidered combat jackets, cropped sporty pants and, yes, high fashion sneakers and knee-high sneaker boots.
It was an intelligent way of highlighting the concept of gender in the Dior show — given greater resonance by the fact she’s the first woman designing at the house. The gender musing continued in diaphanous tulle corsets that were described as “unoppressive” because of their loose fit.
But there was simply too much repetition in the 64-piece collection. The styles felt a little low-energy because of a pared-down color palette — and where detailing and embroideries emerged they came across a little saccharine.
One look, a black dotted tulle and lace top, looked visually incoherent against sporty white crisp menswear pants and white strap sandals. Nevertheless, the designer should be praised for the ambitious effort to liberate herself creatively and to rework the
Dior aesthetic.

MILLA JOVOVICH LIKES CHANGE
“Fifth Element” star and veteran model Milla Jovovich says the spate of new designers at the helm of Hermes, Lanvin, Saint Laurent and now Christian Dior is a “great thing” “Anytime you’ve got fresh air into a really amazing old house, it’s always fun. It’s nice to have this new generation,” the stunning 40-year-old said from the front row at the Dior show.
“Dior took quite a long time to choose the new person, for obvious reasons. They’re such an important house. And Maria (Grazia Chiuri), I’m sure, is going to do a great job,” Jovovich added.