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As someone who worships at the altar of Raf Simons, I feel slightly embarrassed by the fact that it’s taken me such a long time to get around to watching Dior and I, the film that documents Simons’ introduction to the legendary house of Christian Dior. Today I finally found the time to pop on the DVD and immerse myself in the world of Diorraf. Needless to say, it was a magical experience.
When Simons was announced as Dior’s new creative director, replacing John Galliano (and Bill Gaytten, who briefly held the fort after Galliano was fired for making those notorious anti-Semitic slurs), debate ensued over the Simons’ suitability for the house. Simons was given a baptism of fire at Dior, with his first task to design an extravagant couture collection – a difficult task for someone frequently dubbed a ‘minimalist’, thanks in part to his creative direction of clean-cut Jil Sander for six years. “Raf wasn’t the obvious candidate. People said, ‘Oh, he’s a minimalist,'” notes Cathy Horyn at the beginning of Dior and I.
Raf pulled it off in the end, with his AW12 Dior Couture winning over the majority of naysayers. Of course, this wasn’t without a lot of tears (and the occasional Coke Zero-fuelled tantrum) behind the scenes. All of this, and more, is documented in Frédéric Tcheng‘s Dior and I. Click through the gallery below to see why it’s worth your time.
Images via Dogwoof
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1) Discover the process behind creating a Dior Couture collection
Despite being on the verge of a nervous breakdown after his first encounter with the Dior ateliers, when he was reminded he only had eight weeks to produce a couture collection, Raf powered on through and threw himself into his research. Fashion history buffs will enjoy the glimpses Tcheng offers us of the Dior archives – old sketches and fabric swatches, all carefully preserved… ahh.
