Nature’s grandeur is reimagined in luminous gold for the Dior Cabinet de Curiosités—where magnificent sea creatures reign in brilliant splendor. These breathtaking Holiday 2024 selections from Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Cruise 2025 collection, staged in Scotland, remind us of the depth and breath of the Dior luxury brand experience.

Alice Kirkpatrick [IG] is responsible for the exquisite set design, with images by Agnes Lloyd-Platt [IG].

A bit challenged by the correlation of starfish and sea horses with Dior’s Scotland-based, punk-inspired twist on plaid Cruise 2025 Collection, AOC just returned to Vogue Runway to examine the Dior treasures again.

Of course Dior Artistic Director Maria Grazia Chiuri is correct in her description, and silly us for not noting the prevalence of sea creatures, especially in the jewelry, months ago.

Models include Burundian-heritage Edna Karibwami; Chinese-heritage Ji Shuyan; and Lucia Fairfull, part of Scottish indie rock band Lucia & the Best Boys. Fairfull has appeared on AOC several times./ Hair by Caroline Schmitt and Simone Mason; makeup by Eddy Liu and Elodie Barrat

Dior Marries Nature, Marine Life and Gold

This underwater theme is actually prevalent in Dior’s new Gold House in Bangkok and it’s projected onto a Dior facade in Tokyo. This is an entire article on Dior’s emerging physical architectural presence as a marriage of nature and golden opulence.

For all those who criticize Maria Grazia Chiuri and Dior generally for not being clever enough — or bold enough — AOC points out that she has much more in common with Valentino’s Alessandro Michele with this presentation than with Gucci’s streamlined fashion pablum — that new quiet luxury design direction they’re touting.

Dior-Holiday-2024-Maria-Grazia-Chiuri-and-Pierpaolo-Piccioli-6.png

Dior-Holiday-2024-Maria-Grazia-Chiuri-and-Pierpaolo-Piccioli-7.png

Believe in Who You Are

Brunello Cucinelli is raising his revenue and profit estimates moving into the end of 2024.

Ralph Lauren is doing well from all we know, and he just staged a well-received takeover in Shanghai. The Chinese admire his Bronx kid makes good story.

Chanel is about to get an exciting facelift with the appointment of Mathieu Blazy as the new creative director.

Dior-Holiday-2024-Maria-Grazia-Chiuri-and-Pierpaolo-Piccioli-3.png

Dior-Holiday-2024-Maria-Grazia-Chiuri-and-Pierpaolo-Piccioli-10.png

Taking the talented Blazy out of the discussion in this moment, perhaps it’s the luxury brands who know who they are, who will best ride these high-waves waters luxury is facing.

From all AOC is hearing, quiet luxury — except for those who have embedded this theme in their brand identities like Cucinelli or The Row or Loro Piana — is about to get a kick in the backside. Earlier in 2024, Loro CEO Damien Bertrand said he has no interest in being THAT quiet.

Interviewed by BOF, the Dior veteran explained his thinking: pointing to the launch of a prominent pop-up store in the middle of the elite ski resort Zermatt last winter [Feb 2024].

“It’s not so quiet, but people love it. They have hot wine and browse our collections. We’ve had a lot of new clients who have discovered us,” he says. “We were the first luxury brand in Zermatt, now all the brands want to be there,” he says. “In Dior we did a lot of disruption, in Loro Piana we are doing it too, but in a Loro Piana way.” Next year, he plans to take the pop-up somewhere else.

Where Bertrand went is to Kitzbühel, the tony destination nestled in the snow-dotted Austrian Alps.

Loro Piana moved into a traditional Mongolian “gher,” a mobile house used by local nomadic people. That is a form of understated disruption — not at all like Dior’s new Gold House in Bangkok.

Welcome to the Dior Gold House

You think you know what this building really looks like? I promise you that you don’t — unless you’ve seen the other images. We are in the land of the golden Buddha, where nothing is exactly as it appears — and two of the most profound nights of my life, separated only by a few days and with different people.

As an embodiment of the Buddha's spiritual essence, the Golden Buddha inspires devotion, meditation, and reflection, offering a tangible connection to the divine. Personally, I had a dramatic experience with a lesser golden Buddha, but upon discovering it — convinced that my hosts left the door open for a reason — I fell to my knees.

I’ve spent enough time in Bangkok to know how the Thai people feel about this deeply-personal reverence and respect Dior has paid their city, their culture and Buddhism itself.

The big house of LVMH never ceases to amaze me. Seriously, they go deep . . . very, very deep into cultural issues. It’s so impressive to watch. ~ Anne