FASHION

Dior’s Tree of Life-Themed Couture Show Was a Religious Experience

A line of models walking down the runway at the end of the Dior couture show
Photograph by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.

A model with a shaved head opened Dior’s fall 2022 couture show wearing a white lace patchwork gown with puffed sleeves and a slightly ruffled collar. Under any other circumstances, being bald would function as just another trend, but against the backdrop of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Tree of Life themed-collection the look took on a life of its own. A prim buzz cut’s connection with religion is undeniable, as it’s seen as a symbol of rebirth.

There’s been much talk about life, the idea of growth, and the concept of being reborn from designers of late. It makes sense, given the harsh and unsettling realities of the socio-political landscape worldwide. Amid Paris Couture Week, a microcosm of what feels like a reopening and celebration of pre-pandemic life—with few restrictions in place and international travel booming—we’re in uncharted territory. And although couture is an intriguing lens with which to approach this unfamiliar zone, Chiuri makes a fair case for creating beauty and reinterpreting it into stillness, calmness, and, perhaps, even balance.

“The Tree of Life is a call, a warning, to make traditions and gestures shine through, allowing us to recover a balance, if only momentarily,” read the show notes. Fall 2022 contained plenty of pieces that felt traditional while still offering up enough newness via silhouettes and handiwork to make things feel symbolic. Maybe it didn’t come with quite as much showmanship and shock as other couture shows that took place on July 4th, but it did have roots that ran deeply between art and fashion.

Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

The show’s overall message, however, pointed to something bigger: the values and craftsmanship that societies hold close bring us together, despite our differences. With all that and a side of clerical aesthetic overtones, one might just call Dior fall 2022 a religious experience.

Photographs by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.

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Creative director Chiuri has made folkloric frocks part of Dior’s DNA, and this collection was no exception. But rather than capitalize on the traditional Grecian lines and pleats she’d focused on in the past, this time, she moved on to cuts that felt more Byzantine in their formality and structure; floor-length dresses that appeared monastic in presentation but modern in execution; and lush, high-neck, black, silk and velvet gowns that had an ecclesiastical aesthetic but retained regality with details like bronze mesh and guipure motif inlays.

Photograph by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.
Photograph by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.

These elements weren’t just references to one single culture—the fact that they nodded to a multitude of peoples and societies was sort of the point. The Tree of Life theme stemmed from Ukrainian artist Olesia Trofymenko’s work—which explores folkloric themes that traverse a collection of cultures in an open dialogue. For the occasion, the artist layered the show venue, the garden of the Rodin Museum, with an installation of graphics covered by embroidered flowers. Her nature-themed work was also embroidered onto floor-length dresses in the collection.

Photographs by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.

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The Tree of Life certainly took on a more direct application through the idea of growth itself. The clothing bloomed with embroideries, came alive with patchworks of braids, and fluid silks flew past the models marching down the runway.

Photograph by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.
Photograph by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.
Photograph by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.
Photograph by Adrien Dirand, courtesy of Dior.

Threads, yarns, and hand-loomed fabrics quite literally originated from roots as plant-based fibers—but in a more conceptual sense, they also grounded the gilded gowns in what some might call an unapproachable medium of fashion. This is couture, after all.