Windhill Journal

a fashion writer's fantasy musings

A review of Christian Dior SS2023

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s inspirations for Christian Dior’s spring/summer 2023 explores the sartorial senses of Catherine de’ Medici, an Italian-born orphan whose life took an extraordinary turn, eventually reigning as regent queen of France in the mid-1500’s and becoming the most influential woman in 16th century French politics and history. Evocations of baroque femininity, Machiavellian as the Serpent Queen de’ Medici herself, can be unpacked in the collection’s intricate interpretations of lace, raffia and pop culture femme fatales. Instead of rifling through rose-coloured fabric (in appeasement of the 21st century’s pink obsession) for a Maria Antoinette reference, the Dior woman finds a more shrewd palette of blacks, creams, ivories and denim.

Striking looks include: a MET-worthy gown adorned in astrological fancywork, and a wide-draped denim outfit with gleaming gold appliqué that reads as both womens and menswear. The story continues along high-waisted jeans, rippling with folds of volume, paired with a crisp white shirt-blouse – a rococo interpolation of a 90’s working woman in her local Banana Republic curations.

Many of the looks carry a yin and yang in construction and styling – bare shoulders and midriffs with large and voluminous bell-shaped skirts, dainty doily and lace zipped, belted and/or ruched with sportswear detailing. Chiuri, who resonates with Catherine de’ Medici’s Italian-in-a-French-world story, brought the baroque fashion influences of the 16th century into the world of celeb princesses and pop stars. Like modern royalty herself, brand ambassador Jisoo of BLACKPINK continues to parade her version of the fashion house’s femininity and regality, SS2023 is a surely sponsored pretty pit stop in her wardrobe. All hail Christian Dior.