Dior and Dior Homme at the Cannes Film Festival 2016

[Fashion]

The spotlight was on the many stars and celebrities during the first week of the 69th Festival de Cannes. Strutting down the red carpet was often one of the highlights of the festival and the fans and paparazzi were out in full force to capture the stars in their glamorous looks.

Here’s a look at some of the stars who were decked out in Dior.

 

 

 

Liu Yifiei

The Chinese actress Liu Yifiei, who is also ambassador of Dior Prestige skincare in China, ascended the steps at Cannes in a flower-embroidered, strapless white Dior dress, made just for her.

The Dior ateliers, a few steps from 30 Avenue Montaigne, is where Liu Yifei’s dress originated. In order to make it, the seamstresses closely followed the sketch like a detailed road map: with a few pencil strokes and touches of colour, the line of the dress is defined, along with the movement of its train and floral motifs.

With this sketch as a starting point, the petites mains can produce the toile through which they note all the indications necessary for the making of the dress, from the bust lines to the volume at the hips, which will be accentuated by an underskirt of faille, tulle and horsehair, not forgetting the placement of the embroideries, represented by pieces of paper pinned to the toile. Once this has all been finalized and validated, the petites mains cut, tack and sew the ecru faille fabric until they arrive at a preliminary version of the dress, which is then taken to China to be tried on by Liu Yifei. 

The star then gives her impressions, her measurements are carefully noted to ensure that the fabric molds her figure flawlessly, and the dress makes its way back to Paris where it will be used as the model for the real dress the actress will wear on the red carpet. The petites mains will make this from fabric that has already been embroidered with the floral motifs. On the light-coloured faille, cotton ribbons topped with pale pink frayed organza are shaped into corollas, while the stems and leaves are traced out in flat metal sequins, crystal bugle beads and silver thread. The overall effect acts as a subtle nod to the delicacy of the Granville roses used in Dior Prestige skincare, of which Liu Yifei is the gorgeous ambassador.

 

Kirsten Dunst

American actress Kirsten Dunst who’s most notably known for her role in the Spiderman films together with Tobey Maguire wore an haute couture yellow coat dress, custom made in Dior’s ateliers.

In order to produce this unique creation for the American actress, Dior tapped into its heritage and savoir-faire. With its slim waist and flaring cut, this 1950s-inspired dress exudes femininity. Its line and proportions are the result of a rigorously-realized shaping, stitch by stitch, sculpting the fabric to the curves of Kirsten Dunst’s body. To give this impression of lightness and fluidity, the petites mains in the ateliers have carefully manipulated the fabric to create ripples that naturally, effortlessly dance to the rhythm of her movements.

Referring to the art of colour dear to Christian Dior, yellow is also, in his own words “the colour of good weather, of sun and youth.”

 

Marion Cotillard

In the atelier Flou, tucked away under the eaves of 30 Avenue Montaigne, the petites mains have translated Marion Cotillard’s wishes and inspirations into a unique creation, a golden dress, a sliver of glittering details. Working from a mood board of ideas, the lamé dress was designed to project pure, pared-down simplicity of an apparently effortless kind only the savoir-faire of the Dior happier couture ateliers can accomplish. Only a single seam is visible on the bust: it gives the fabric a draped movement that seems to continue to the shoulder where it spills into a ruffle of black velvet, like a trompe l’œil.

The fabric’s ability to mold the curves of the chest in a natural manner without any other visible stitches or darts is the result of the rigorously-constructed organza foundation underpinning it. Lastly, a fine copper chain was sewn into the hem of the dress so that the light fabric falls in a fluid fashion, enhancing the actress’ movements on the red carpet.

 

Not to be outdone. The men were also decked out and looking dapper in Dior Homme with Diego Luna, Gabriel Garcia Bernal, Jack O’Connell, Mads Mikkelsen, and Vincent Lindon in the brand’s creations.

 

 

Photo credits: Dior, http://www.vogue.fr/, http://tomandlorenzo.com/, http://news.xinhuanet.com/, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

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