Kyoto served as Japan’s capital for over 1,000 years before the imperial government shifted to Tokyo in 1869. Even so, the city today is known as the cultural capital, home to historically preserved temples, palaces, and gardens, as well as celebrated cuisine, art, and fashion. Last week, Dior presented its Fall 2025 collection, helmed by Maria Grazia Chiuri, here in the city’s unforgettable Toji Temple gardens.
Photo by Daici Ano, courtesy of Dior.
For the new collection, Chiuri celebrated the construction of clothing and the dialogue of Dior in Kyoto share. Similar to how we view a building—defined by its interior, where we live—Chiuri approached the new line by thinking about their interiors. Here, the relationship between body and garment is dictated by custom, with culture-specific needs and references seen inside, too.
“The relationship between body and garment is dictated by custom, with culture-specific needs and references,”
Dior in Kyoto for Fall 2025 Collection
Courtesy of Dior.
Courtesy of Dior.
For Fall 2025, the designer studied garments in two and three dimensions. This study followed Monsieur Dior’s Fall/Winter 1957 collection, which premiered the Diorpaletot and Diorcoat—both designed to be worn over a kimono, while still honoring its shape.
Maria Grazia Chiuri Designs for the Material Soul
Kimonos reimagined with contemporary tailoring are seen in knit to echo origami pleating; florals are revived through a couture motif of a 1953 cherry blossom; and collaborations with several local ateliers are seen. In the new collection, wide pants, kimono blouses, and dresses with gold inlay embroidery express flowing desire and a sense of self.
Courtesy of Dior.
Courtesy of Dior.
“The garment is the body: a contemporary body,”
Chiuri’s focus here is on “material soul”—where “the garment is the body: a contemporary body that integrates the equation of the kimono and the quality of the textile into the architecture inherent in the Creative Director’s DNA,” as the brand’s press notes stated. This is how coats with generous silhouettes, at time belted, are imagined. And for garments made with precious fabrics, like silk, they embody precious symbolism and sketches, too—including visions of the Japanese garden and its blooming Sakura.
