Black and white retro sunglasses, pastels aplenty (green, purple, yellow pink), dainty little cardigans, and rosette, ruffle, and bow accents made for a lovely Parisian chic cruise wear collection at this year’s Christian Dior Cruise show, held in Shanghai. The slew of light looks that John Galliano presented were interspersed with pops of vampy fitted leathers, striped casual separates, day dresses, sexy bustier tops, and a slew of stunningly ornate embroidered and beaded gowns.
One of the best cruise shows John Galliano has presented to date, the avant-garde designer gave Karl Lagerfeld a run for his money with the star power he drew to the Far East. Among those in attendance were Charlize Theron, Marion Cotillard, Kelis, Maggie Cheung, and countless other local stars. Furthermore, in this day and age, when Asia is the dominating market for many luxury brands, there seemed to be a smart underlying strategy to staging the Dior show in Shanghai.
However, it was not lost on viewers that the Dior Cruise collection did not appear to be Asian-inspired in the way the Lagerfeld said that his own collection was St. Tropez-inspired. Galliano stated that he didn’t want to come to Shanghai “and present a Chinese-inspired collection to my Chinese friends. I’m the ambassador of the house of Dior, and I wanted to come here with a French-inspired collection and to show the savoir-faire of France.” These are smart words that not only proved true with a stunning collection, but proved the designer’s business savvy as well.
Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.
