State Of The Art

Both deeply rooted in self-expression, the relationship between fashion and art is one of symbiosis, and this season, designers are all too keen to show us why

- Abigail Leong

FLOWER POWER

Florals for spring are hardly groundbreaking, but in the hands (or should we say less Petites mains) of Dior, garden variety prints are elevated to an art form. Drawing on myriad sources of inspiration from Monsieur Dior’s sister, resistance fighter turned avid botanist Catherine, to the Grand Herbier at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, Maria Grazia Chiuri imagines a series of ethereal dresses, matching separates, and efflorescent accessories enlivened with flourishes of foliage in the style of herbaria. Sprigs of wildflowers are captured in watercolors, then reproduced in embroidery on silk, tulle, cashmere, jacquard, and canvas. Other floral patterns are created through eco-printing, an age-old technique of dyeing textiles wherein pressed flowers are heated so as to imprint their shapes and colours onto fabric. Forget roses, we’d take a bunch of Dior flowers any day.

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