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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.

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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,

Anthony Vaccarello was exploring who the Saint Laurent woman is. Pinned to the moodboard backstage at Dior were images of an asymmetric 1951 day dress by house founder Christian Dior called the Amazone, a vintage picture of Wonder Woman, a statue of Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting, and a graphic Dior Sport logo from 1962. These different strands of inspiration were woven together in a collection that explored strength, the ways in which femininity is performed, and rethinking classic Dior looks to allow for more freedom and movement. Chiuri said: “The relationship with the body is the work of design.”