IN A thoughtful blend of tradition and innovation, Maria Grazia Chiuri unveils Dior’s Fall 2025 collection in Kyoto – a poetic meditation on global fashion rituals through the lens of Japanese heritage and French savoir-faire.
This season, the creative director reimagines the garment’s architecture itself, drawing inspiration from two influential moments in the House’s history: Monsieur Dior’s 1957 kimono-inspired outerwear and Marc Bohan’s presentation in Tokyo in 1971.
Look Details © Dior
Look Details © Dior
Look Details © Dior
With the country and house having a long-standing history – notably the founder was the first Western courtier to branch out to the East, and more recently, former head of menswear, Kim Jones drew from this relationship heavily for his designs – it seemed apt that Maria Grazia Chiuri could add her own chapter to this on-going dialogue.
Look Details © Dior
Look Details © Dior
Look Details © Dior
Ensuring the show’s location found itself reflected within her overtly feminine aesthetic, at the heart of the collection is a contemporary exploration of the kimono. On the one hand, you have the silhouette’s minimalism, and on the other, you find a diverse richness of textiles. Together, the designer transformed and translated these elements into voluminous coats, sculptural jackets and flowing skirts.
Presenting them in a manner that upheld the country’s conservative tone, the models moved with choreographed grace; in particular, their motion echoed the spirit of Japanese theatre and the reverence found in Kyoto’s “Love Fashion: In Search of Myself” exhibition, which Chiuri visited as part of her creative pilgrimage.
Look Details © Dior
Look Details © Dior
Look Details © Dior
Rendered in sumptuous silks and adorned with golden embroidery and floral motifs reminiscent of serene Japanese gardens, each look speaks to a deeper narrative: one of identity, desire, and the body as a living canvas. Shades of intense black ground the collection, while sculptural tailoring and fluid lines offer a metamorphic tension between restraint and release.
While naturally from its exterior Dior has taken a moment for Fall 2025 to celebrate cross-cultural artistry, if you look a bit closer you can see that Maria Grazia Chiuri has presented an intimate link between body and garment, showing how clothes that can be both a shelter and an expression of identity.
by Imogen Clark