At Paris Fashion Week, Dior returned to some kind of normality with a physical show for its spring/summer 2021 collection.
It was certainly a dramatic event, with the backdrop made to look like stained glass windows in a Gothic cathedral, and eerie music provided by live female vocalists.
However, there was one particular element of the show creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri didn’t plan for: a protester on the runway.
Towards the end of the show, a woman ran onto the catwalk holding a sign that said: "We are all fashion victims."
She spoke no words and left without being carted off by security, meaning a lot of people on the front row were left confused and didn’t know if it was part of the show or not. After all, the last Dior runway show in February was full of big slogans and signs like, ‘Consent’ and, ‘Patriarchy = Climate Emergency’, so it very well could have been more of the same.
According to WWD, immediately after the show Antoine Arnault, head of communications and image at LVMH, the luxury conglomerate that owns Dior, said: "I think it was part of the show. It’s hard to tell these days."
He wasn’t the only one confused by the stunt, with WWD also reporting chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture Pietro Beccari wryly saying: "It was a surprise for everybody. It was so well done, you couldn’t tell what it was."
However, the protester wasn’t part of the show, and was in fact a representative of Extinction Rebellion – the activist group campaigning against climate change. You can see the group’s logo on the edge of her sign, and a spokesman for the movement in France told Reuters the protest was meant to denounce "the impact of the fashion industry on the environment and society".
Extinction Rebellion has been targeting fashion weeks all over the world for the past few years: in February 2020 the group sent a letter to the British Fashion Council urging it to cancel London Fashion Week – when the event went on as planned, protesters stopped traffic outside of key show spaces.
Protesters used to be a regular sight on the catwalk, but over the past few years, security has tightened, making it harder for uninvited guests to make it into these exclusive shows. However, there has been the odd successful attempt.
At Paris Fashion Week this time last year, a French comedian and YouTuber known as Marie S’Infiltre jumped onto the catwalk at Chanel’s show and attempted to walk as a model. Her time on the runway didn’t last long – supermodel Gigi Hadid stepped in to coax her off the runway.
