Dior and I (2014) - full transcript

Dior and I brings the viewer inside the storied world of the Christian Dior fashion house with a privileged, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Raf Simons' first haute couture collection as its new artistic director-a true labor of love created by a dedicated group of collaborators. Melding the everyday, pressure-filled components of fashion with mysterious echoes from the iconic brand's past, the film is also a colorful homage to the seamstresses who serve Simons' vision.

When Christian Dior gives the word,
hemlines drop from Brooklyn to Central Park.

How to get the new
look, even if mother nature...

I am gonna say
some things in English.

So, I am extremely
looking forward,

I feel very humbled to stand
here in front of you, um...

I can't wait to work with you.

He's been, truly
important to me.

He's been with me, working in
high-fashion for more than a decade.

I'm very happy to have him
on my side.

It's because of the
history of Dior that people are

utterly fascinated by what
will happen at this house.



So, there is always that speculation
about who would take over the house.

But really, I think
it's about...

They know what kind
of job this is.

They know what the heritage is. They know
what... And they know what the expectations are.

Raf wasn't the obvious candidate. People
said, "He's a minimalist."

You know,
"Would he leave Jil Sander?"

And also people
didn't know who Raf was.

I mean you have to remember, the people who really
know about Raf are the people who covered menswear.

And who saw his shows
in 1995, '96, '97, '98.

It was the beginning of the real
revival of the skinny black suit.

You could say that,
that was minimalism.

But I think it was that idea of energy,
and something sort of new and modern.

And the other side of that though is, you
have to think about what the Dior customer is.

What the history here is.



I think it's always been something
very feminine, number one.

It's got a silhouette.
It has shape to it.

Some, certain degree of embellishment
and romance and extravagance.

And this will be interesting to watch, I think,
at a house like Dior, where he has resources.

He does have the big stage, when you have a
big stage, you step up. It asks you to do more.

No, it's nice
to meet everybody. Yes.

Nice to meet you.

- Nice to see you. Fine.
- How are you?

So we have a special paint
to do that.

So, how many hours before the
show it was finished? That one?

- Ooh, that I didn't like to hear.
- What?

When somebody says, "It's short? Until
July." I'm like, "Fuck!"

Okay so first, we will
begin with the first collection.

The legacy of Dior,
I find it, well... challenging.

I think it's really interesting
and challenging, to face a legacy

which is so gigantic
and so sublime.

This I have to say, I
already expect it on the rack,

but I'm quite amazed how
contemporary I find it still.

It's built in,
but it's really...

- Yeah.
- Just feel it.

- Cushions?
- Yeah. Cushions.

But at the same time, I also wanted
to have quite a radical approach

in terms of like modernizing it.

The whole idea about juxtapositioning
something so specifically from that time

with something so specifically from this
time, is for me, already modernity in itself.

I want it to become more dynamic,
because I find women very dynamic now.

Pants and pockets and...

It's important for me
that they can move easily.

I won't know what it is,
pleated exactly to the length.

That's a good length.

The shorter the better.

- Yeah, that's beautiful.
- It's very nice.

- It's very Diane...
- Do you like that, Florence?

I do.

No, but the idea
that a couture dress,

would be kind of made as a top,

it's for me more the idea of making a top out
if it, or pants, or that it becomes more young.

A younger woman.

And I like also very much,
this story...

I think that fashion in general
is about dialogue.

That's why I also question
people around me all the time.

And I question me, I guess also.

People in the 50's and the 60's
saw the future as something very romantic.

You know, people would
romanticize about living on the moon,

they would kind of dream about
living on the moon,

and finding all that
very romantic.

And that is also something
that I see always for myself.

So in that sense, the past is not romantic for
me, it is the future that is romantic for me.

A brand this big and this
impactful on the fashion world,

to create...

To create the code.

I would like to see, if we can also
develop things that look like that,

kind of, like, future,
alien, flowery.

- We'll make samples for you.
- Yeah?

The first runway that I do in Dior,
I want the girls to be comfortable.

I don't want a guy to support them. I hate a
feeling of a guy who supports them on the staircase.

It's comfortable. As 11 here can be
comfortable. It means that it is comfortable.

There was no day that I'm not looking at art. I
can't really explain it, because it's so in my system.

- So, that's the painting I love... I love so much.
- Yes.

Yeah, I like this one.

It's something that
relaxes me and inspires me.

And at the same time, it is
also, I think, natural for me

to connect it with what I do.

Yes, Yes,
I will run up the stairs.

He doesn't touch the painting.

They're done with spray cans.

I'm looking through
all the paintings,

because what I'm going to do is, there is this
couture fabric that Mr. Christian Dior used a lot.

And then it gets woven, so
you get this slight movement in it.

And I think it has the quality
of a brush stroke.

And so I'm kind of trying to convince
them, to have like hall painting.

This is the fabric.
Which I adore.

- Because it takes the color so deep.
- Yes, deep.

- And also, like, you know, it gives light.
- Yeah.

- The real work.
- This technique.

If we print in, we're going
to imitate the warp printing,

but you will have the effect,
but not the deepness. You see?

No, I really prefer
exactly this.

- So, we have to...
- This is too...

Challenge? New couture.

So, this is what Raf likes.

And it's like mixing your
elements in a different way.

- There are seven different skirts.
- Yes.

No! Please!

The look
of a Sterling Ruby painting

is maybe not something that you
would immediately expect in couture.

The colors could be compared to
flowers or could be compared to a flower,

but it has something quite,
rough in a way also.

That was spread out and that was you know
like a certain kind of aggression in a way.

- They're scared to take it on.
- I don't think they can do this.

And they said it's not possible to know
how many colors, there is in the print.

They said it's too hard to
realize we have no time to make it.

I hope it will be okay.

But I don't want to give up. I never
give up, until the first girl is on stage.

But if it's not working out, I mean you're
never gonna have me with a mad face.

But we won't give up until the first girl
goes on stage. That's the last minute.

- You're right.
- That's the last minute.

So we're gonna challenge Bucols, and if they
finally can't do it and they can't make it

or it's technically not okay or
whatever, big smile at the show...

Seriously, I like that.

But I also keep on hearing, constantly, "They're bringing
the dresses now, they're bringing the dresses now."

Honestly, still don't see them.

Can you call Madame
Riviere to come to me?

Where can we find space
alone? Here we'll be alone.

Yeah, I don't know how the system works,
for me it's all new, but if a whole fitting is...

If a whole fitting is slower, for 15 dresses
because of one client in New York, I don't agree.

Oops.

Because our client, she was traveling
to New York, and then she told us...

It has to be solved. It has to
be solved, one way or another.

They cannot keep on sending
out premieres if they are to be...

Maybe it's a matter of who is
going to be sent out to the client.

If you send a premiere out to
the client, ateliers stand still.

Send just another premiere
to the client.

Premiere keeps the
ateliers running.

- So she can't say no...
- But you can also not say no to me, I'm sorry.

I know, I know, but...

There they are.

Stand next to each other.

The newest workshop in the first season... in
the first season is always a bit like that.

Especially in the first,
first season of course, but...

But it's fun, but it's heavy.
It's heavy.

I think it's very romantic in a way,
because it's very much about what, I think,

the founder of the company
was about.

I mean, it sounds almost
pretentious, I hate this because

I don't want to suggest
in any way

that I am talented enough

to compare myself with
Mr. Christian Dior,

but I do think that, the way
he approached femininity,

as the ultimate starting point,

I found very, freeing.

Because I also found myself
in the last couple of years,

in a situation where the
audience sees me as a minimalist.

And...

I'm not.

I mean in a way,
I find it quite...

Um...

surprising.

Did I take on a minimal
brand? Yes. Yes.

But does that mean that I
am only about minimalism?

Well, let them judge after
the show, I would say.

Beautiful?

He was describing things, "I
thought, this is exactly how I do it."

You know what I mean?
How he is in a certain situation.

About 15 pages and
I already stopped.

More 50's.

But I like something like this, you know, because
all the dirt is something that you can take care of.

It's very dirty?

Bit of paint.

I have an idea.
But it's very extreme.

Very difficult, I think.

- Yes.
- Yeah.

Everything inside is flower.
Everything. Everything.

You walk in and it's
all flower. Everything.

That is genius? So you walk from
one space to the other and one space is like,

all white orchids, then
the next one is all pink roses.

And the next one is multicolor.

And the smell...

That could be amazing. Amazing.

Nice, no? It's just like kind of the negative
of the Jeff Koons, "Puppy."

Like you walk in
and it's all that.

Can you imagine
this one in flowers?

This is fantastic. This space.

He's gonna like that. Like all flowers, like,
you know, it's gonna look like, Versailles.

It's gonna look like the fucking
"Puppy" in Versailles.

That's how it's gonna look.
It's insane.

More gentle, more like...
I know it's difficult...

It's pleated
in the back as well.

Let's have a walk.

Can you come to me?

My favorite thing.

Aha!

It's realistic.

The situation is realistic.

But it's possible. I mean,
yes, the answer is yes.

Technically we know how
to do it, correct?

So, this is the test.

So, this is the test.

How long it takes to do it?

How long?

You mean to prepare it? You
can do it before and bring it? No?

You have to do it...

At the end, the whole thing...

It's just a matter of Sidney
or Mr. Arnault liking it or not.

No?

It's okay to be a character. It's
like being in a play all the time.

But it's best if you write
your own lines.

What was the second one?

Is this the real me? Fashion says that
you can be somebody completely different.

- My Dior...
- Is my Dior...

- Is my Dior.
- Is my Dior.

My Dior, is my Dior,
is my Dior, is mine.

- Dior. - Mine.
- Yeah.

There's one thing
I really don't want to do.

Being shot, being filmed.

It's intimidating for me. Especially
if it's with people I don't know.

Okay.

- Okay, after I have...
- Everything for the occasion is fixed, right Olivier?

Yeah, we're doing it there.
That is confirmed.

- And now it's okay?
- Yes.

- I have to know something else, it's an important thing.
- Yeah?

What is the minimum for me to come greet
the audience, to not disappoint Mr. Arnault?

Because I'm not gonna walk like a clown all
through those spaces. That's not gonna happen.

I'm not going to... I don't
want the catwalk. I cannot do it.

Unless you want me fainted at that
place, in front of these bunch of cameras.

Because it's not
going to happen.

I can just pop in everywhere.

One thing I will never do, I will not go
through the whole thing. I can't, I faint.

We have to go
to every space to see.

We have for you...

There's a long distance. It's like a
walk through the desert with a dry mouth.

That, if I have to do that.
That I know for sure.

Whatever I plan, it won't
be in that moment like that.

But, like, okay. Let's see
what's happening and...

I'll come out, don't worry.
Yeah, yeah I will. Don't worry.

When there was a lot of tension
around the show, it's very difficult,

and now you know, I know
in advance like that day...

Wait, till that day is there.

What we would like to do

is to shoot one picture

after the show
with six of our models and you,

on the flower, wall.

Which is
the opening of the story.

That's, for me, that's my
only way to try to negotiate

ten pages in Paris Match.

Which is huge.

It's a picture magazine. People keep
it for the pictures. It's quite famous.

That's a story.

Anyway it's clear in content.
It's your choice.

Yeah, but it doesn't feel like
a choice, so let's do it then.

That will be different?

Only different thing?

Can we put a black fabric
on the bar?

- Needle it perfectly into the curve.
- Yeah, I need it to be perfect there.

How fast can they
make the jacket in black?

- No, don't worry, don't stress...
- Well, I am stressed about it.

Not stressed. But, you know, it is very
important because it's the opening look.

- I know, it will work out perfectly.
- It's the first impact.

Don't worry.

For Saturday morning.

No, we can spray it.

- Casting is second floor.
- Okay, thank you.

Can you make in the
middle of the space, a turn.

Walk around a little bit.

I think she's very beautiful, but
you cannot have this kind of walk.

Is that manageable, that she
does that okay in the first season?

She can walk up and down.

- Your first show ever?
- Yeah.

Can we do it non-transparent in
the front and transparent in the back?

We have a long way to go. I hope we have a long
way to go, because I'm looking forward so much.

And... But the most important
thing for me is to thank you for

the way you welcomed Pieter
and Fulvio and me in your family.

Thank you.

We went a bit wild, didn't we?

I think...

Well, we have to clean this and then try
and add something here, well, whatever.

Hi, I'm sorry! I'm just
looking at the flowers.

- How are you?
- Let's go in a little bit.

Okay, sure.

There's no...

Well, it smells fantastic.

- Is that a camera?
- Yes, they filmed...

- Very secret.
- Yeah, yeah.

- Good luck, good luck.
- Okay.

Well, that's your
call. If you think you should salute

all these people too, then
I don't know if you should.

Ooh la la, la, la. Ooh!

Yeah, I tell you...

Standby for the light...

Raf, Pieter, are you ready?

- Julia, are you ready?
- Yeah, yeah.

- Go.
- Go, Julia.

Standby for music.
Standby for Ariel.

Go.

When in the rooms,
you go slowly.

You walk slowly.
There in the steps...

Go.

- I have to go. I have to go.
- Go, go, go, Raf.

Raf! Raf! Raf!

Raf! Raf! Raf!

- Hey!
- It was amazing!

I came just for you.

Congratulations.

Congratulations! I can't
believe you did it all.

Well done! Beautiful!

My God!
I'm so honored to be here!

Raf! Raf! Raf!

My mom and my dad.