“Among all the colors, navy blue is the only one which can ever compete with black, it has all the same qualities,” wrote Christian Dior in The Little Dictionary of Fashion. Maria Grazia Chiuri, Artistic Director of the Dior women’s collections, reactivates the different codes of the House’s heritage with transgression, without fetishism or nostalgia: for her ready-to-wear Autumn-Winter 2017-2018 collection she explores a color that was among Monsieur Dior’s great favorites.

Dresses were nipped-in-New-Look-fitted with pleated or tiered splaying skirts, natty jackets atop them and natty berets atop those. Bee necklaces felt almost medallion-like and, combined with the berets, and later denim, it felt almost Nineties rave. But done Dior style. And so here was always an underlying and precise sophistication even though it was youthful, too. Chiuri has managed to get this balance right. You feel like she knows how to straddle the line between the two customers: established and emerging. And it doesn’t have to be sensationalist.

Related: Fashion Week Ready to Wear Fall 2017 | Paris

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Courtesy of Christian Dior