The Back-In-Business Show

How Théâtre de la Mode once revived French couture — and might do so again.

- Min Chen

No runway? No sweat. The pandemic may have shut down most of the fashion industry, but confinement has got nothing on couture: Autumn/Winter 2020’s Paris Couture Week went ahead in July, presenting us the season’s haute couture collections in virtual formats. It’s how we got Balmain’s live-streamed socially distanced party on a barge that made its way down the Seine, and a glut of videos attempting to convey mood and aesthetic in a paltry few pixels (we see you, Margiela).

And Dior’s been no different, sending out a 15-minute video to unveil its latest couture missive, the house’s first online presentation. It opens on a curious scene: an atelier full of artisans putting the final touches on lush gowns of satin, organza and pleated chiffon — except none of these designs are close to human scale. They’re miniatures, dressed on doll-sized mannequins, their intricate designs and meticulous craftsmanship no less plain. Titled Le Mythe Dior, the film goes on to introduce us to a cast of wood nymphs and forest sprites, but those small mannequins and their similarly shrunken dresses — they’re no fairy tale.