As we begin to enter a post coronavirus pandemic world, a question that remains top of mind is “what will post-pandemic fashion look like?” For Dior’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the future of fashion is high-tech meets high-glam. With the growing interest in NFTs, the metaverse, and cryptocurrency, it naturally makes sense that high-tech is starting to interpret the way that we dress.
Grazia Chiuri is known to prefer IRL interactions over URL, but that doesn’t mean the talented designer intends to be stuck in the past. For her Fall-Winter 2022 show set in its stunning Tuileries venue, Dior’s ready-to-wear collection got a futuristic touch, the Grazia Chiuri way. Titled The Next Era, the collection featured various looks in partnership with Italian-based brand, Dynamic Autonomy and Intelligent Robotics Lab (or simply D-AIR Lab). The company is known for developing personal safety clothing that helps the wearer feel confident and protected in potential danger, i.e., diving suits for scientists exploring the below-freezing arctic waters.
For the runway, the garments struck a different level of confidence meant to give those who wear the pieces self-assurance. Grazia Chiuri perfectly balanced the maison’s classic heritage DNA with today’s technology advancements. The first look featured a model wearing a bodysuit featuring illuminating lights that accentuated the silhouette of her body. A reinvented jacket based on D-AIR’s Antarctica Suit featured mesh resembling grisaille, assuming the imprint of the body.
Other looks fused D-AIR Lab padding and materials into corsetry and layered over artisanal dresses, which in a way is Dior’s pièce de résistance in sparking confidence in women. As far as footwear goes, sophisticated square-toed heels, a part of the brand’s longtime collaboration with Roger Vivier, was updated with ankle-supporting straps, further committing to the high-tech meets high-glam narrative.
Scroll back up and watch GRAZIA USA‘s exclusive video for more on Dior’s runway collaboration with D-AIR Lab to see how technological inserts transformed the heritage label’s new line.
