Amazon warriors at Dior, and Saint Laurent looks to Yves’ own wardrobe
The French luxury brands opened Paris Fashion Week with reflections on womanhood
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found here.
When Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri told journalists before the show that the performance artist and archer SAGG Napoli would be shooting arrows along the catwalk, there was a flicker of concern. Would the front row have to duck for cover? Fortunately, though Napoli opened the spring/summer 2025 show in dramatic fashion by taking to the catwalk in a one-shoulder leotard and gladiator-like skirt made of strips, accessorised with a huge bow and
quiver of arrows, she fired at her target down a clear plastic tunnel along the middle of the catwalk. Of course, Dior owners LVMH were never going to let someone practise archery unfettered, not least when the front row included Brigitte Macron and Queen Sonja of Norway. Still, it made for an impressive spectacle, and enabled Dior to eke out a little more of the Olympic feelgood factor from the summer’s Paris games, for which LVMH were sponsors.
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found here.
The Dior show on Tuesday marked the first major day of Paris Fashion Week, along with Kering-owned Saint Laurent in the evening. Both heritage houses were reflecting on womanhood. At Dior, Chiuri said she was inspired by “the mythology of the Amazon woman and how it’s part of our culture”, hence the archery, while at Saint Laurent,
