Christian Dior Couture Fall 1997: Mata Hari

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by brownfashionagal

For his second Dior couture show, Galliano took his audience to the Bagatelle gardens on the edge of Paris. The collection is known as Mata Hari, after the dancer and spy, and it looked to the Belle Époque, the years between 1898 and 1908.

The silhouette came from that time: a tiny waist, a curved S-shaped line and long trailing skirts. Galliano mixed it with the exotic symbols that fascinated Europe in those years, so the lace and high collars of an Edwardian lady met the jewels and embroideries of an imagined East. It is exactly the kind of story he loved, a woman who is half society beauty and half adventuress.

Debra Shaw was among the models, and the garden setting added to the feeling of a lost, privileged world.

It is less famous than the debut before it or the Casati show after it, but it belongs with them. 1997 was the year couture came back to life, and Galliano’s rich, romantic take on fashion history was a big reason why.

Pictures courtesy of Vogue Runway

We do not own the rights to any of these images and they have been used in good faith. Every effort has been made to ensure that all images are used with proper credits. If you are the rightful owner of any image used on our site and wish to have it removed, please contact us at ayerhsmagazine@gmail.com and we will promptly remove it. We are a non-commercial, passion-driven, independent fashion blog and do not intend to infringe any copyright. Thank you for your understanding.