Paris Fashion Week: Amazon warriors at Dior, and Saint Laurent looks to Yves’ own wardrobe

When Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri told journalists before the show that the performance artist and archer SAGG Napoli would be shooting arrows along the catwalk, there was a flicker of concern. Would the front row have to duck for cover?

Fortunately, though Napoli opened the spring/summer 2025 show in dramatic fashion by taking to the catwalk in a one-shoulder leotard and gladiator-like skirt made of strips, accessorised with a huge bow and quiver of arrows, she fired at her target down a clear plastic tunnel along the middle of the catwalk.

Of course, Dior owners LVMH were never going to let someone practise archery unfettered, not least when the front row included Brigitte Macron and Queen Sonja of Norway. Still, it made for an impressive spectacle, and enabled Dior to eke out a little more of the Olympic feelgood factor from the summer’s Paris games, for which LVMH were sponsors.

The Dior show on Tuesday (Sep 24) marked the first major day of Paris Fashion Week, along with Kering-owned Saint Laurent in the evening. Both heritage houses were reflecting on womanhood. At Dior, Chiuri said she was inspired by “the mythology of the Amazon woman and how it’s part of our culture”, hence the archery, while at Saint Laurent, Anthony Vaccarello was exploring who the Saint Laurent woman is.

Pinned to the moodboard backstage at Dior were images of an asymmetric 1951 day dress by house founder Christian Dior called the Amazone, a vintage picture of Wonder Woman, a statue of Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting, and a graphic Dior Sport logo from 1962.

These different strands of inspiration were woven together in a collection that explored strength, the ways in which femininity is performed, and rethinking classic Dior looks to allow for more freedom and movement. Chiuri said: “The relationship with the body is the work of design.”

It was a largely monochromatic collection, with a sporty focus. One-shoulder tops appeared frequently, presumably in an allusion to the notion that Amazon warrior women cut one breast to make archery easier. Leotards, blazers and shirts came with a single shoulder strap or an exposed shoulder, while leotards with glittering fringes were worn with gladiator-boot trainers. Other utilitarian designs included wide black cargo pants, little bomber jackets with straps and buckles, and jogging bottoms with stripes down the side, but it was a shame not to see more of the elegance and structure with which Dior is synonymous.

There was more of an emphasis on tailoring this season at Saint Laurent, where Vaccarello said backstage that he had listened to an interview with Yves Saint Laurent himself from the early 2000s, in which the late founder said that the Saint Laurent woman is him. So Vacarello took this literally, reinterpreting the kinds of suits, trenchcoats, shirts and ties worn by Yves, for women. The backstage moodboard was covered in photos of Yves, including one in the same pose as a sketch by Andy Warhol, and even fabric samples of tie prints.

This wasn’t the slinky tuxedo tailoring synonymous with Saint Laurent, but more an early ’80s business look. Models walked around an open-air circular catwalk slicked with raindrops, wearing oversized jackets, many double-breasted, with wide-leg trousers in shades of charcoal, sand and beige, teamed with striped shirts and patterned ties.

The ties had an endearingly retro feel to them, recalling everyone from Wall Street execs to less ambitious office workers, and were crying out to be accessorised with huge cordless 1980s phones. This was power dressing, yes, but giving off inner confidence rather than “greed is good” vibes. The styling was key to making this look feel fresh: cuffs were rolled up to reveal blingy bangles, and aviator-style glasses and visor sunglasses added some je ne sais quoi.

But behind the catwalk gloss and a front row that included Catherine Deneuve, Carla Bruni, Gwyneth Paltrow and Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who plays Sylvie in Emily in Paris, the figures have been less convincing recently. Saint Laurent’s revenues were down 7 per cent on a comparable basis at €1.4 billion (US$1.56 billion) in the first half of the year, part of an overall slowdown at parent company Kering. But this was a strong show and underlined that Saint Laurent has a coherence to its image that many brands can only dream of.

Vaccarello was keen to reflect the different facets of the Saint Laurent woman, naming each look after one of the brand’s muses, and the final section took an about-turn with “an explosion of crazy colours” such as tangerine, sunflower yellow and emerald green, as he referenced the house’s maximal designs from the early 1990s and questioned notions of taste. “I saw a Saint Laurent look in 1993 where at the end of the show the model had a green shirt with black lace,” Vaccarello said. “We think of the 1990s as Helmut Lang and Ann Demeulemeester and minimalism but he [Yves Saint Laurent] never gave up that overdressed woman.”

So short metallic brocade jackets in borderline garish shades of violet and peony pink with gold, and featuring jewelled buttons, were updated with tiered jacquard miniskirts, and models’ hands were jammed nonchalantly in their pockets. Very different from the suiting, but with a common thread of attitude, power and sex appeal that defines the house. It’s not that Vaccarello didn’t already understand who the Saint Laurent woman is, it’s more that he wanted to get to know her even better.

Carola Long © 2024 The Financial Times

This article first appeared in The Financial Times