Paris Fashion Week SS27 got off to a gentle start yesterday afternoon, easing us in with designers Julie Kegels and Hodakova. Today, however, there was no holding back, with Dior – the biggest show of the schedule so far – taking place this afternoon (September 29). This season, creative director Jonathan Anderson took us back to his favourite spot, Paris’ Jardin des Tuileries, the same location as his previous AW26 womenswear show. While last season he took inspiration from the Tuileries’ green metal deck chairs, today’s collection was all about walnuts. Allow us to explain… 

GOT NUTS?

J Dubs is clearly nuts about Dior. For his third women’s ready-to-wear collection (and ninth runway in a year!) Anderson sent out a pair of polished walnuts as the invitation. Presented in a charming grey gift box with the Dior logo across the top, the invite immediately sparked speculation about what the upcoming collection might look like. As it turns out, walnuts were his starting point for SS27. More specifically, wénwán walnuts, which are used as a plaything in Chinese culture. Typically, you’d rotate two in one hand to keep your fingers busy or to massage your palms – like nature’s answer to a fidget spinner. “Coming across wénwán walnuts reminded me of how we can find knowledge and preciousness in nature,” Anderson explained. 

RIHANNA ARRIVED ON TIME!

It wouldn’t be a Dior show without a flurry of A-list stars jetting in for the occasion, and SS27 had its fair share of them on the frow. Perennial Dior faces like Rosalía, Jennifer Lawrence, Jisoo and Anya Taylor-Joy made their way to the Tuileries, as did brand ambassador Mia Goth, Olympic skier Eileen Gu, K-pop star Hyunjin, and Cynthia Erivo, making her Dior debut.

But, as always, the guest of honour spot belonged to none other than Robyn Rihanna Fenty, who made it to her seat in fairly good time. Rumour has it that, the night before, Rihanna had guests waiting a total of 63 minutes before she arrived at Matières Fécales SS27, but this afternoon’s Dior show was, luckily, not as delayed.

ACROSS THE POND

As mentioned, J Dubs returned to the Tuileries for today’s catwalk, which was previously the location of March’s AW26 show. While last season’s set took inspiration from those lime deck chairs, this time the octagonal runway was rendered in lily white, with the main catwalk once again splitting the middle of the pond. Adding a fantasy edge were the trees sprouting from the middle of the pond – which models walked beneath on their journeys – plus plumes of smoky mist rising from beneath the runway and across the surface of the water.

LET THERE BE LIGHT(NESS)

The collection itself was as light as the smoke that rolled off the pond. Anderson turned to wafer-thin fabrics – silk mousselines, organza and Chantilly lace – and in the show notes, posed the question, “How light can a garment be?”. Some pieces were so delicate that they looked as if they’d been made out of petals and could blow away in the wind. Like different stages of a tree’s cycle (from losing its leaves entirely to blocking out the sky above), Anderson contrasted transparency with opaqueness. White smoking jackets with black piping resembled swans – an inspiration that Anderson teased on social media with a glittering clutch bag.

Gleaming gold and silver python trousers also juxtaposed the floating see-through jackets, reappearing once again after making their debut at the Dior menswear show in June. A series of knee-length cropped flares were designed to look like trumpet flowers, drooping down toward the ground, while one model wore a pair of green gardening shoes. Like fairies that had tumbled out of their trees, it was a collection that felt both ultra-light and at one with nature. Cleary, J Dubs is in his tree-hugger phase.