"Welcome to all our Super Fly Girls," read the models upbeat cue-card backstage at the House of Dior s latest extravaganza. After the furor over his last Dior "hobo" couture collection, designer John Galliano crowded the mirrored runway with throwaway luxe outfits that took a leaf—make that a volume or two—from the opulent style manuals of the contemporary rap world. The fur was flying: Chunky sable and chinchilla coats, and even a sheared mink trench, were shrugged over barely there boudoir chiffon dresses (some suspended from thick gold chains). Even Galliano s thick knits were threaded with fur strips (and worn with 80s ostrich-skin skirts or skinny pants). When the fur wasn t real, it was printed--think faded animal spots on chiffon or beaded leopard pelts on stonewashed denim. The Christian Dior Daily, a newspaper created just for the show, was printed on chiffon, leather and even the reverse side of furs.
The mood softened with perversely ragged dresses inspired by Galliano s couture collection, and a finale of miraculously cut black or lingerie-pink lace and chiffon dresses. These, with their deconstructed corset pieces cleverly built-in, and with sun-ray-pleat insets fanning into trains, hinted at the refined Galliano magic of yesteryear.
