The COVID-19 crisis has forced every industry to put on their thinking hats and to experiment with the ways for conducting their everyday business in the best suitable alternative way. Addressing the need of the hour, on Monday, the world witnessed the first-ever digital Paris Fashion week.
Italian director Matteo Garrone was appointed by Dior to showcase its Dior Autumn- Winter 2020-2021 Haute Couture collection through a well-sculpted mythological narrative featuring the Byzantine Greek nymphs, a mermaid and Pan- that grabbed the attention of almost 1.5 million views on Instagram in just the first four hours.
The director said, ‘When I saw the trunk with the small dresses it was already a fairytale’. The opening scene of the video shows the hand of a woman gently brushing through the end of a mesmerizing mermaid style dress to give it a finish, and the rest of the women working on the tailoring of various magnificent intricate designs as sample pieces, that is later exported to the surreal mythological creatures living in a lush dense forest by two men workers. The men display the samples to the peculiar forest creatures that are enchanted by the dress and share the information of their body vitals for the measurement. The latter part of the video reflects the emotion of happiness and sensuality once the characters embrace the final designs and fabric on their skin. The background score used in the entire campaign has blended itself magically with the entire storyline, thus, it is able to transcend your soul into this mythological space.
However, it is also receiving backlash from supermodels like Naomi Campbell and by a few others on social media for not including any Black character in the entire video. Naomi further voiced her concern by saying that the fashion industry must consider the Black Lives Matter Movement and start “enforcing inclusion”.
