Christian Dior was a fervent Anglophile throughout his life, seduced by British aristocracy and its unique protagonists – Princess Margaret would become an ardent admirer of the couturier’s designs – and establishing his first store in the country in 1952. Two years later, he would strike a lasting relationship with Harrods that saw the historic London department store stock his clothing as well as host seasonal Dior shows at the newly created ‘Fashion Theatre’ throughout the 1950s. ’There is no other country in the world, besides my own, whose way of life I like so much,’ he once said.
Dior’s Paris-inspired takeover of Harrods
The takeover features three pop-up spaces, as well as an installation in Harrods’ famous Brompton Road windows
Open until 27 August, a dramatic new takeover sees Dior celebrate its ‘powerful, enduring’ relationship with Harrods through a series of pop-ups located throughout the store as well as an installation that stretches across its famed façade and windows on Knightsbridge’s Brompton Road. The project also marks the arrival of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s A/W 2023 womenswear collection for the house, first shown in February in Paris, and follows Dior’s Christmas-time takeover of Harrods, which included a Dior café and a vast gingerbread display.
The ‘gift shop’ space in the store, featuring the Dior’s ‘Florilegio’ motif
This time, the three pop-up spaces – each an attempt to capture ‘the strength, fragility and beauty of a femininity in perpetual motion’ – create a series of immersive scenes rooted in the house’s heritage. There is a book-filled ‘library’ decorated with a ‘Plan de Paris’ motif, which Christian Dior first designed for a silk scarf in the 1950s (the same map-like design, featuring emblematic Dior locations, from Faubourg-Saint-Honoré to 30 Avenue Montaigne, is also blown up on the store’s exterior); an ephemeral gift shop, inviting ‘shoppers to find the perfect present for their loved ones’; and finally a Wunderkammer displaying the house’s leather goods, including colourful new variations of the Lady Dior and Lady D-Joy handbags.
The ‘library’, which also features the ‘Plan de Paris’ motif, a map of Paris first designed in the 1950s by Christian Dior for a silk scarf
Other products include the ‘Dior Chez Moi’ capsule of pyjamas, robes and loungewear, flower-print ‘Florilegio’ accessories, and jacquard handbags featuring the ‘Plan de Paris’ motif, alongside the A/W 2023 collection. Combining ‘the bold innovation and classic heritage of the two houses’ – as Dior describes – the pop-up will be open throughout August for summertime shopping.
Dior’s A/W 2023 pop-up stores at Harrods run until August 27, 2023.
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