April 17, 2025 |
When Kyoto was announced as Dior’s Fall 2025 show location, you might have wondered why it had taken Maria Grazia Chiuri so long to come to Japan for her first proper destination show (save for a repeat show of the haute couture SS17 in Tokyo). Over the years, Chiuri has often chosen destinations where their links to the French house sometimes need deeper explanation. Or they are places where Chiuri has forged the links herself, such as 2023’s Mumbai show because of her commitment to the Chanakya School of Craft. In contrast, Japan is a place where the ties between house and host are undeniable. You can already list them before the press notes arrive. Princess Michiko wearing a series of Dior dresses for her civil wedding in 1959 (conceived by Monsieur Dior and finished by Yves Saint Laurent). John Galliano’s Hokusai-inspired Madame Butterfly ensemble in his legendary haute couture SS07 collection. Delve further into history and you’ll find that connection even more deep-rooted. Dior was the first couture house to show in Japan as Monsieur Dior took his collections to Osaka, Tokyo and Kyoto in 1953 and forged ties with local companies to take his designs and replicate them for the Japanese market. Marc Bohan also showed his Dior collections in Japan in 1971 and, more recently, Raf Simons took Dior to Tokyo for a Pre-Fall show back in 2014. The country is a natural second home for Dior.
This is all besides the obvious fact that Kyoto in April is always a good idea. Even with the crowds. In the run up to the show, maybe because my phone had heard me mention ‘Kyoto’ so many times, my Instagram kept serving me up videos of tourist hordes swarming around the sakura – cherry blossom – trees. The persistently low Yen exchange rate has also lured visitors from all over the world to Japan in their droves. When I was in Tokyo over Christmas, I think I heard more people speaking English, Cantonese and Mandarin in Shibuya than I did Japanese. We come with empty suitcases to supermarket sweep some face masks, perfect non-stick pans, Sanrio goods and a bunch of cute socks, snacks, vintage Comme and stationery that I’ll inevitably bring back and not use.
Kyoto is not necessarily a shop-till-you-drop destination, however. It’s where you walk endlessly, wind up in unexpected alleyways, find quiet spots and marvel at its 17 Unesco Heritage Sites. You can follow the crowds into the obvious tourist spots, like the Golden Pavilion and Kiyomizu-dera temples, but then wander into less obvious ones, because the city has more than 1,600 temples and 400 shrines. I had been to Kyoto numerous times for work and pleasure over the years, but never during cherry blossom season. Driving over a bridge across the Kamo River, which runs through the old Japanese capital, even in the rain you could see the magic of the blossoms dotting the landscape and highlighting the charm of the city. In our hotel rooms, we were given the right accoutrements for contemplative meandering: sandalwood incense, an ornate fan (both made by local artisans) and Dior-branded long tabi toe socks that are perfect for padding around tatami mats. If other trips to Tokyo with brands are normally defined by freneticism and noise, then being in Kyoto with Dior felt like it was already on track to be an ode to beauty and, in a sense, embodying the Japan of people’s imaginations.
The next morning, after my mandatory Japanese hotel brekkie at Six Senses, we headed to the Tatsumura Textile atelier, which was founded in 1894 and specialises in artistic brocade weaving. Turned out, Monsieur Dior had used Tatsumura brocades for a collection in 1954. That same soun-ji pattern was to be resurrected by Chiuri for the Fall 2025 show, hence why we were allowed to gawp at artisans working the jacquard looms and creating the most intricate of details. Some designs took up to a year just to complete a full banner. I said to Sophia [Neophitou-Apostolou], who was also giddy to be there, that if everyone saw these processes up close, it would prove the true value of high fashion. When you see fingers working the warp and weft of silk threads, the price of the resulting piece or garment seems wholly justified.
By night, Kyoto takes on a cinematic ambiance, exemplified by the welcome dinner at Funatsuru space, which is normally used for wedding banquets. Its Meiji era architecture and interiors, complete with a rickety old lift that traversed its four floors, made for a fun evening of exploring all the nooks and crannies. “What do we attack first? Sushi bar or sake bar?” asked my friend Dawei, who works in Dior’s Paris HQ. Sake, duh! Especially as my partners in crime Bryan Boy and Yoyo Cao had arrived fresh from their flights.
The next morning, some of the group headed to the beautiful Fushimi Inari Shrine at 7am, but I bailed due to an inevitable sake hangover, which was cured by a matcha tasting. After that, we had a kaiseki (multi-course) lunch up at the Kyoyamato restaurant in the area of the Yasaka Pagoda, complete with lush Japanese garden. Gardens, of course, were one of Monsieur Dior’s passions, so it was only right that we saw some exemplary ones on this trip.
The best garden was yet to come as the rain stopped and the skies cleared just as the sun was setting, right in time for the show. I’m a bit bored of talking about weather woes during destination shows so, suffice to say, everything was absolutely fine. LVMH’s rumoured weather shaman came to the rescue as we headed to the historic Tō-ji Temple, where its garden of Sakura trees were still in full bloom and, as night fell, were all magically lit up, with the temple’s foreboding wooden pagoda looming into sight. Cue everybody trying to take the perfect blossom background picture, reminding me of Martin Parr’s latest photo series, which is being showcased in the Kyotographie photography festival (incidentally sponsored by Dior). We can’t help but fall for the allure of those pink fluffy blooms.
In a preview of the collection with Maria Grazia, the mood board illustrated those aforementioned links between Japan and Dior but also the backbone of the collection, which was Chiuri’s fascination with the kimono, as a garment that frees the body, seemingly in opposition to Dior’s tendency to cinch and sculpt. In fact, Monsieur Dior had designed topcoats that were meant to go over kimonos in his Japan-specific collections presented here in 1953. Therefore, as we settled down in our garden path seats, lined with maple and cherry trees, the collection that played out eschewed bar jackets or corsetry. Instead, the models meandered towards us in fluid and freeform silhouettes that had hints of the Japanese wave of designers in the ’80s as well as inflections of Japonaiserie, confronting that oft-discussed aesthetic dialogue between the West and Japan. Chiuri is no stranger to the conversation around cultural appropriation or appreciation and, over her tenure at Dior, has managed to land comfortably on the latter. In addition to the Tatsumura collaboration, Chiuri also worked with Tabata Kihachi on hand-painted silk motifs that resembled ancient paintings and the Fukuda Dyeing and Embroidery Research Institute on delicate silk embroidery and subtle ombré-dyed pieces. These collaborations gave the collection a painterly delicacy, as fabrics were treated like canvases, draping the body rather than constricting it. What was evident was that Chiuri was consciously trying to work these Japan-derived haute couture level elements into what is a ready-to-wear collection, just as Monsieur Dior reproduced his designs with Japanese manufacturers.
As we were sitting far away from the pagoda, I was told that there would be a dramatic finale of the models standing beneath the grand structure and that I should maybe try to leg it up closer to the pagoda to get the epic shot of all 70 looks lined up in unison. The content greed in me was real. But Sophia, who was sitting next to me, pointed out that I might be wrestled to the ground by the efficient security guards if I tried to do it. I heeded her wise words and watched the finale on Bryan’s Insta live stream instead.
After the show we were left to our own devices as the different press groups headed back to their hotels for a warming nightcap. With Bryan, the stylist Declan Chan and a gaggle of Dior Paris HQ team members in tow, I ended up at a cheap-as-chips izakaya with too much fatty tuna nigiri (given that you can be well fed in a corner shop, you really can’t eat a bad meal in Japan) and then a karaoke joint with special rooms (one had a bouldering wall with grips for you to climb up). Belting out Chappell Roan, Rihanna and Abba with whisky highballs and tequila shots in hand was perhaps the perfect antidote to Kyoto’s manicured gardens and polite etiquette.
Kyoto is a place to contemplate. Even with the throngs of crowds, you can turn a corner and find yourself in the quiet alleyways of old machiya houses or indeed beneath the most perfect cherry blossom tree with petals at your feet. Time to take stock of Chiuri’s era at Dior, which has accomplished so much. Next stop? Roma for Dior’s cruise show in Chiuri’s hometown in June. All roads lead there after all.
Photography by Tierney Gearon.
