“Well worth every drop of anticipation and every second of the wait, Simons blew past expectations. In 14 dazzling minutes… he thrust Dior into a place it hasn’t been in some time… This collection pulsed with that Holy-Grail fusion of currency and cool.”
And Suzy Menkes for The International Herald Tribune, roping in big cheese Karl Lagerfeld‘s legacy:
“[The applause backstage after the show indicated that] the designer Raf Simons had exceeded all expectations…Apart from the excellence of the different concepts and the way that they were respectful of women’s bodies and independent attitudes, this was one of the best regenerations of the spirit of a heritage brand seen on the runway since Karl Lagerfeld first reinterpreted Chanel almost 30 years ago.”
Cathy Horyn for The New York Times:
“In just six months at Dior, Raf Simons has shown that he’s more than a creative director. He’s a decorator, an architect and a definitive tastemaker… The shimmery light effects were beautiful — and a way of expanding the notion of minimalism.”
It goes on: at Style.com, Tim Blanks writes that Simons’ finale “distilled history” (!); Hamish Bowles at Vogue.com notes the designer’s “intriguing take on the season’s Op Art stripes and color blocking” and “intriguingly beautiful” chiffon dresses; Thomas Adamson for the AP got gushy about some butterfly detailing at the end of the review, because “it was details like this that made this collection fly so freely and so high”; and Katherine Ormerod at Grazia summed up the prevailing consensus: “Overall, he successfully brought a new minimalist vision to Dior but kept true to the values of the legendary fashion house while setting Hedi Slimane a tough act to follow. Congrats Raf!”
Meanwhile, Simons himself seems to want everyone to shut up a little. He tells Foley, “Everyone thought I was a minimalist. I love minimalism. There will often be that kind of aesthetic; that kind of concept will be very often a part of my world. But it’s not the only thing that I’m interested in.”
Image via IMAXTree
