Theatrical Inspiration at the Heart of Dior AW 2025-2026 Collection
Dior's AW 2025-2026 collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri merges heritage and transformation, blending fluidity, drama, and timeless elegance.
The latest ready-to-wear collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri, Creative Director for Dior Women’s collections, explores fashion as a force for transformation. Drawing inspiration from Dior's rich heritage, Chiuri merges these influences with the broader history of fashion, referencing Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, with a visually striking theatrical staging by Robert Wilson.
Chiuri’s Autumn-Winter 2025-2026 collection invites individuals to embrace fashion as a means of self-expression, offering a broad range of possibilities. Drawing on dramatic landscapes, from fiery terrains to cold blue icebergs, Wilson’s visual design evokes a world of transformation, reflecting the metamorphosis of Orlando.
Central to the collection is the white shirt, a garment that converses with the designs of Gianfranco Ferré, celebrated as “the architect of fashion” and Dior’s Creative Director from 1989 to 1996. This key piece serves to deconstruct gender norms, with Chiuri emphasising fluidity in the designs. The theme is further explored through the use of frilly removable collars, which nod to the iconic Orlando ruff, an accessory that transcends time, set against the backdrop of the haunting musical motif “Once Upon a Time”.
The collection also plays with temporal references, with iterations of the J’adore Dior t-shirt, originally designed by John Galliano, Dior's Creative Director from 1996 to 2011, reimagined with floral embroidery.
From the backstage to the runway, the collection moves from dark to light, with black and white tones dominating the designs. Subtle transparency enhances the formality of hyper-structured coats. Masculine jackets are paired with bustiers, while the return of the tailcoat creates elongated silhouettes. Crinolines further accentuate the waist. Textures such as velvet and glossy materials contrast with leather and shearling, while lace seamlessly transitions into swirling ribbons. The final moments of the show feature raincoats that morph into capes, shrouded in smoke, blurring the lines between fiction and reality for an unforgettable presentation.
