Christian Dior Spring / Summer 2018 Haute Couture

PARIS — Finding agreement can be difficult these days. Impasse in every possible flavor from the political to the cultural is the daily fare, which week after week inevitably whets the appetite for something markedly different. Reality, suspect as it is, is there for the taking, and taking is just what Maria Grazia Chiuri did early Monday afternoon at the runway show for her Spring / Summer 2018 Haute Couture collection for Dior. According to the collection notes, Chiuri had immersed herself in the writings and works of the surrealist movement for this collection, which she realized in black and white, a prescient palette for this #MeToo moment. Taking the works of surrealist Leonor Fini as her point of the departure, the Chiuri marshaled illusion and at times irrational juxtaposition to create a couture collection in keeping with the times. This surrealist theme extended to the set design for the runway show, which incorporated a mesmerizing black and white checker catwalk over which were suspended outsize models of human anatomy (eye, ear, mouth, hand, even woman’s torso) mingled with birdcages. The wire enclosures, a powerful feminist image if ever there were any, were notably open at the bottom, sprung, if you will. It was an intoxicating spectacle, equal in every regard to the exquisite collection, possibly Chiuri’s best yet. On the day, nine models at Next featured in the runway show including Oumie Jammeh, Lineisy Montero, Manuela Miloqui, Estella Brons, Lucia Lopez, N