Studio Brief 02 - Dior Spreads

What was paramount in this spreads design, was to show off what was notable about Raf Simons' debut for Dior. From the extensive use of flowers to his reinvention of Christian Dior's iconic bar jacket. 

The spread includes the flower walls that were a definite highlight of the show. The use of flowers has been something of a Simons trademark ever since joining Jil Sander. 

In his last show for the house, he had flowers encased in glass boxes on white plinths. Through his use of flowers, he has also used the same florist Mark Colle, which allows for each show to have a relatively consistent visual.

Rather than placing a static image of a flat flower wall, the doorways in which the models were walking through from room to room were included. This adds a visual depth and illustrates the numerous rooms that the show's venue held. Much like the differing colours of the flower walls, the outfits were chosen that contrasted each other from the silhouette and colour palette. Black and white reflects the modern elegance that Simons help inject into Dior's couture collection which is also represented from the choice of outfits which displays cuts that are reminiscent of his days at Sander. In much the same way how the images in the 2002 collection spread contrast the background, the dark, black outfits contrast the green flower wall whilst the white outfits contrast the blue. 

To reflect Dior's brand image and heritage, Garamond is used for the copy. Being set inside the flower wall, a softer more muted beige was opted for against white which was too harsh visually. 

Within this spread, the idea is to also include an interview with i-D magazine on his arrival to Dior. 

The construction of this interview will follow the same one as seen in Margiela's publication. Whereby the interviews and other sources were shown in smaller form factor from the original size. The reason to include this interview is to not only give the reader a more in depth look into Simons character but the fact that this was his first venture to designing Couture and experience as a Creative Director of a major label.

This spread shows off the A/W 2015-16 collection and last collection by Simons. The choice for this is to feature the various forms of flower walls that have made his shows famous. On the left, a wall of white orchids and the right blue delphiniums. The layout of the models were done to display each outfit whilst helping to convey their movement on the runway. In each layout, the colours were chosen to create a visual flow and to show Simons consistency in design choices. On the right, the venue of the show is included in order to show the reader the scale of Simons flower efforts.