The event, scheduled for April 12, will mark the first time the collection is presented on a runway.
Dior plans to stage a physical show in Shanghai for Maria Grazia Chiuri’s pre-fall 2021 collection, marking the first time the line will be presented on a runway.
The colorful collection, which touched on references as varied as Dior muse Mitzah Bricard and fashion entrepreneur Elio Fiorucci, was unveiled online in December. Dior is planning a show around the line at the Long Museum West Bund on April 12, to coincide with Shanghai Fashion Week, which is set to run from April 6 to 13.
The event “represents an extraordinary opportunity to infuse her creations with a visual force in motion, and a new energy inhabited by the show venue,” the French fashion house said in a statement, adding that the show would touch on art references ranging from the Pop Art of Richard Hamilton to the New Futurism of Marco Lodola.
China is one of the only countries where fashion brands are able to stage physical events, as restrictions designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus continue to curb public gatherings elsewhere.
Dior has held several events at the Long Museum before: a repeat of a Dior Men show in 2014, and the sprawling “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” exhibition last year.
Kim Jones, Dior’s artistic director of men’s collections, has increased the brand’s visibility by staging roving runway spectacles for its pre-fall collection. After alighting in Tokyo in 2018 and Miami in 2019, the line was presented online in December, with a viewing party in Beijing in the presence of local brand ambassadors.
Dior traditionally presents its women’s pre-fall collection to selected media in its showroom, reserving the big runway moment for its cruise collection, which it has shown in locations including Marrakech, Morocco, and Lecce, Italy.