Dior's Tuileries show in Paris looks back to the spirit of the 1970s

Designs use a sophisticated visual style to pitch the brand as conscious and engaged

Because Christian Dior loved flowers and nature, he took the tulip as inspiration for his dress patterns and bottled the scent of lily of the valley as Diorissimo. But in the 21st century, the house he founded broadcasts its affections on a grander scale.

Dior has partnered with the Louvre Museum to finance a five-year restoration of the Tuileries Gardens. Financial details of the patronage have not been disclosed, but when Paris fashion week opens with the Dior name emblazoned on a temporary structure the size of a provincial railway station in the centre of one of the oldest and most elegant public parks in Paris it seems fair to assume a hefty sum is involved.