Dior and Schiaparelli weave surreal fairytales at Paris fashion week

From magic mirrors at Versailles to Dalí-inspired humour, both houses found dramatic potential in lockdown limitations

Paris fashion week is as theatrical as ever, even while playing to an empty house. Instead of their customary stadium-sized catwalk show, Dior filmed a dark fairytale in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, for an audience mostly watching on their phones.

The opulent venue was Dior’s answer to the challenge of how to make an event out of a show which is, in reality, not an event.