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Christian Dior: A Night At the Races

John Galliano, the Christian Dior creative director, is veritably consistent, albeit this season with a delightful libertine twist.

In January, Galliano presented a Dior haute couture collection with a rich equestrian theme and this Friday, March 5 in Paris, his fall 2010 ready-to-wear rode off on the same track, but took in pit stops with some pushily elegant daywear and a delightful boudoir moment before cantering into a beautiful Barry Lyndon finale.

The designer went back to his Anglo roots with this collection, opening with dashing combo of a saucy silk ruffled dress under a exotic leather cape cut like a wild trench coat.

Unveiled in a custom-made show tent in the Tuileries Gardens, the collection referenced Monsieur Christian Dior’s famous obsession with English riding tweeds. But what’s great about Galliano is the way he can take a theme and ride it into all sorts of smart new fashion horizons.

So, while he might show an oversized redingote in burgundy leather, he reinvents it with astrakhan flaps. Or he will send out a perfectly cut mini ruffled cocktail, but have the gall to produce it in chocolate colored leather.

A frisson of nocturnal misbehavior ran through this collection, many of whose looks featured garters, lacy stockings, ruffled blouses and negligee dresses so transparent one could see the chic Dior underwear underneath.

“This season Dior takes up the heroic spirit of French romanticism and Mr. Dior’s beloved English riding tweeds. I was inspired by the drape, line and cut as well as the characters of the era. I wanted to create a new luxury, and new lover, in the romance of the seductive libertine of Dior,” Galliano explained.

The designer also packed plenty of great new accessories into this fashion stable, notably some surefire hit riding boots with filigree trim and saddle buckles and a selection of great new tote bags in everything from fur with equestrian hardware to clutches in astrakhan.

There was the usual intense pre-show buzz, as the paparazzi ignited an explosion of flashes when Charlize Theron took her front row seat beside Bernard Arnault, Dior’s chairman and main shareholder.

Building to the climax, Galliano had a triumphant femme fatale finale – models in charmingly disordered hair, attired in skimpy, largely sheer silk asymmetrical gowns and cocktails in great dusky pinks and limes. All together a brilliant exposition of racy romanticism at its best.

There have been mutterings of late in Paris fashion circles that Galliano’s intense schedule – besides couture and ready-to-wear he creates the children’s and lingerie lines for Dior, and creates four collections a year for his own signature label – was threatening to burn out this talent.

This impressive collection of sparkle, wit, sophistication and brio should bury those rumors. Moreover, such a heart pumping moment was also a reminder that there Paris is always a place where one can truly witness design imagination, remarkable finish and production élan.

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