In a city where myth and modernity seamlessly intertwine, Maria Grazia Chiuri invited the world to Rome for the Dior Cruise 2026 show, a collection that felt like both a memoir and a mirage. Set against a backdrop of ancient stone and cinematic reverie, the show unfolded as a heartfelt ode to her city’s contradictions: sacred and profane, masculine and feminine, eternal yet ever-changing.
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On the runway, Chiuri conjured a bella confusione, a beautiful confusion inspired by Federico Fellini’s 1963 masterpiece 8½, where surrealism intertwines with autobiography. In her hands, fashion became language: Military jackets edged in black piping layered over delicate lace dresses, tailcoats paired with voluminous skirts that seemed made to sweep through a Roman palazzo. There were chasuble-like gowns and pieces that echoed the velvet glamour of the Fontana sisters’ legacy, evoking Anita Ekberg’s unforgettable presence in La Dolce Vita.
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Directed by Matteo Garrone, Les Fantômes du Cinéma serves as the dream-state prelude to Dior’s Cruise 2026 collection. Set within the hauntingly beautiful Villa Albani Torlonia, the short film summons the ghosts of Italian cinema—Fellini’s surrealism, Visconti’s grandeur, and Pasolini’s poetics—as translucent muses weaving through corridors of memory and fabric. Models drift between reality and reverie, accompanied by House artisans and cult photographer Maripol, in a sequence that blurs atelier ritual with cinematic lore. What emerges is not a behind-the-scenes glimpse, but a metaphysical meditation on femininity, authorship, and the passage of time—signature themes in Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Rome-centered vision.
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Off the runway, the front row mirrored this interplay of narrative and nostalgia. Every celebrity arrival felt like a character entering Chiuri’s cinematic script, with each outfit a small monologue in this grand dialogue of history, film, and femininity. Keep scrolling on for our favourite looks.
Natalie Portman
Ashley Park
Deva Cassel
Rachel Brosnahan
Han So-Hee
Rosamund Pike
Razane Jammal
Sarah Catherine Hook
Eiza González
Marisa Berenson
