© Dior / Photography: Brigitte Niedermair

We’re mesmerised by Dior‘s striking new Women’s Fall 2021 Collection campaign shot by Italian photographer Brigitte Niedermair. Dripping in style and infused with popping colours, the collection created by Maria Grazia Chiuri takes cues from fairy tales. A network of symbols, for the designer a tale is hardly just a means of escape: it serves to challenge and revisit stereotypes and archetypes. It consists of a narrative projected into the future. Revisited by Chiuri, the toy soldier’s uniform thus transforms into a series of blue cashmere coats embellished with touches of red and white. Shimmering lamé and Lurex jacquards lend this stylised silhouette a metallic shine; fabrics made with gold and silver threads appear to float as if by magic. Black boldly asserts itself on a range of pieces from skirts to the Bar jacket punctuated with the cannage motif, an iconic Dior code, or with a hood that might have been worn by Angela Carter’s Little Red Riding Hood. Red is a through line, on little coats: it illuminates capes and raincoats always with hoods. It permeates tartans via an archival rose motif** evoking the original tale of Beauty and the Beast, of which Chiuri is particularly fond. Evening gowns are fit for princesses, in layered tulles that seem to evaporate in a froth of marvellous colours. Then there are white collars, plastrons in broderie anglaise, and white bobby socks recalling the world of childhood.

© Dior / Photography: Brigitte Niedermair