The Dior Autumn Winter 2025-26 runway begins with a lone figure—adorned in lace—sitting on a swing. Haunting music echoes as she sits in stillness. As the room returns to complete darkness, the girl disappearing, the tone then shifts to an eccentric voiceover. “Once upon a tiiiime,” it warbles, comets streaking across the floor. Organ music booming, our first model breaks the otherwise dark stage. She’s wearing a neutral equestrian jacket, black shorts and a black cravat.
Maria Grazia Chiuri’s inspiration for Dior’s latest collection came from the Virginia Woolf character, Orlando, who can travel through time and, one day, wakes up a woman. The text explores gender expression and perception, and English society through time. As we know, Chiuri has a love affair with British romance (for example, the Scottish Cruise show) and literature (the Alice in Wonderland haute couture show). Of these collections, the Dior legacy is most at-home with Orlando and Woolf’s references, paving the way for 1920s silhouettes, structured coats and ornate lacework.
Picking and choosing from “gendered” items, the collection takes high femme pieces and mixes them with masculine flourishes. Take the black heels with shin guards that become a Redcoat’s ‘boots’. The palette remained neutral: black, white and beige, spare the aforementioned red coat.
Structured and whimsical, in true Dior fashion, the FW25 runway flowed between past, present and future. Reinvigorated Dior classics, including the ‘J’adore Dior’ tee and Dior Saddle Bag caught the eye, as other pieces leant into customisation. Frilled removable collars elevated otherwise minimal looks, including the humble white shirt, whose contemporary androgyny inspired the designers.
A jewel of Paris Fashion Week, the Dior show attracted a star-studded front row of actors, style icons and K-pop stars. Natalie Portman was among the most notable names, along with Elle MacPherson, Lucy Hale and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo.
