The hallowed reputation of Dior as a fashion house is such that even the best designers working today are intimidated by the prospect of helming it. In fact, it was Raf Simons’ contorted facial features and pure emotion that made the biggest impression on me as I watched the documentary as part of A Design Film Festival 2015 with my friend Benjamin last Sunday. Indeed, even though Simons has since proven an able leader at Dior after his appointment in 2012 (after a period of uncertainty following John Galliano’s notorious departure over an anti-Semitic outburst at a Paris cafe), it was a real treat to witness his first days at Dior.

Directed by Frédéric Tcheng, who collaborated on Matt Tyrnauer’s Valentino: The Last Emperor and was co-director of Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel, the film chronicles Simons’ first collection–haute couture, which he had never done before–for the house. It was a breath of fresh air, not overly sentimental nor playing up to expectations of sensationalism and backbiting as some fashion films do, but with a narrative shaped to draw the viewer back to Christian Dior’s heyday in the Fifties while paralleling it with the very similar challenges that an equally introverted Simons is going through. That’s not to mention the fact that he has to present a collection in a mere eight weeks and faces the pressure of doing right by Dior’s legacy (for those who are not familiar with the process, a couture collection usually takes months to create). The atmosphere is nail-bitingly tense at times as Simons goes about the gargantuan test of executing his vision while having to manage a new team.

Nonetheless, the film was not devoid of levity. Tcheng took care to include snatches of humour through exchanges between selected characters, including his affable “right hand”, Pieter Mulier, as well as Florence Chehet and Monique Bailly, premiere seamstresses of the Dior atelier. The protestations of a camera-shy Simons also come off as humorous rather than grating.

However, what was also particularly admirable was how the film honoured every individual’s experience. Whether it was that of the late couturier, Simons or the seamstresses and tailors who work tirelessly in the atelier, everyone’s story, dreams and ethos about the work that they do at Dior was given air time, and what was especially moving was how they were united in their desire to honour the spirit and history of the house, which loomed as an overarching narrative in the film and was referenced in a sequence that imagines the ghost of Dior wandering through the workrooms at night, inspecting the work.

And of course, there was the collection. The designs were pitch perfect, paying tribute to Dior’s romantic and feminine vision of the woman as a flower but also exuding Simons’ inclination for the conceptual–apparent from the series of black looks with the iconic Bar jacket that opened the presentation, while increasingly vibrant colours and more elaborate silhouettes built the show’s momentum to its exuberant and moving climax, all of this against the fantastical backdrop of room upon room enveloped by walls of fresh flowers.

There are some critics who have said that the omission of John Galliano wasn’t the best decision. For example, Dhani Mau from  Fashionista.com felt that not mentioning Simons’ flamboyant and controversial predecessor made the film less authentic. However, I felt that that the film was better for not including Galliano as that turned the spotlight on Simons’ design process rather than the controversy that has dogged the house since Galliano’s departure. Moreover, the two designers are vastly different, and it would be missing the point of the documentary to compare them. Thus, the film signifies a new beginning, in more ways than one.

In short, Dior and I is an exquisite gem of a documentary, a sincere tribute to the beauty of the creative process that also offers the exciting privilege of seeing how it unfolds at the most legendary of fashion houses. Even those unschooled in fashion would be able to sympathise with the palpable pressure that Simons was feeling. As I joked to Ben, a budding designer in the middle of creating his own collection, even pros get the jitters too.

Credits:
Screen still from Dior and I from Vogue
Dior and I trailer from YouTube
Dior Autumn/Winter 2012-2013 Haute Couture from YouTube