Raf Simons’s Futuristic Collection for Dior Shows in Tokyo

Photo: Courtesy of Dior

Raf Simons, the artist director of Dior, likes to take his in-between collections on the road. In May, he brought all of Paris to Brooklyn for his Cruise show (which is in stores now). Today in Tokyo, he presented a Pre-Fall collection that will be on sale from May to October of next year. Since Pre-Fall is on the racks the longest, it’s the most wearable of all of the seasonal collections, and the most important to get right. And he did.

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Simons took his collection to the Far East because he finds Tokyo endlessly inspiring.

“Particularly in terms of the liberty people take for themselves in how they dress, there is nowhere else like it; the freedom of styles, the new architecture of clothing that you can see forming in the street as well as in the city’s fashion design history…It’s a place that is both extreme and exhilarating,” he said.

One could tell that the resulting collection was steeped in references to Tokyo’s glittering cityscape, architectural designs, and mash-up manner of dress. The show opened with a dark mahogany coat with a bright yellow collar, underneath was a hint of a sequin top. Sequins were a reoccurring theme, peeking out from under leather coats, wool and crochet dresses, and even cashmere sweater vests. True to the spirit of Dior and the iconic Bar dress and silhouette, the waists were nipped but this time in a more sharp and modern way. The finishing touch was the hair that was back in two congruent rounded braids, and the eyes that were dotted with Manga-like makeup.

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We can’t wait for this collection to make its debut back East.