Christian Dior Haute Couture Fashion Show Spring-Summer
Raf Simons’ invitation to work on the stage set of the Haute Couture Spring-Summer show of 2013 came a as a gift and a total surprise in the fall of 2012. Its goals and challenges summarize some of the essential fascinations of the Wirtz practice: the relationship between the human figure and organic forms of nature, the love for texture and color, the human eye height vs. controlled understory shrubs and loose, umbrella shaped canopies, perspective building and sequencing, illusion shaping, and - last but not least - searching for overall harmony.
It was his wish to have the models stroll through a garden. Opposite to the usual straight catwalk, fluent natural pathways were created. We envisaged an intense garden experience within the enclosed environment of the show’s setting. Hereby not only the surface was used to its maximum but also the height. To achieve this, two ‘ingredients’ were chosen: multi-stem trees that filled the space in height and width and very calm evergreen volumes to guide the models through the garden.
The main idea of this project was to have the models walk between the trees and under the canopies. Like this the models were seen among the sculptured stems. These multi-stem trees arise from stretched islands of boxwood. These islands have a variety of heights so the models partly disappear and reappear again in full glory. The evergreen ‘sculptures’ with their fluent shapes create a strong sense of peace. A light green variety was chosen for the boxwood, left unpruned to stimulate the natural atmosphere of the total scenery.
For the trees multi-stem hazels were chosen. It was quite a challenge to find a tree species that would create a sense of spring in the middle of the winter. The hazel was the perfect choice. The catkins, dangling from the branches, blossomed fully. The light yellow tone together with the light green boxwood movements gave the whole a fairy-like atmosphere.
Because of the sober plant choice, the models with their beautiful cloths were shown to their full advantage. They were like flowers in a garden.
