Dior showed their Cruise 2025 collection in Scotland. Of course, there were tartans and tweeds

That Maria Grazia Chiuri would be predictable is hardly surprising. Dior’s grand cruise 2025 collection was staged at the grander Drummond Castle, south of the Scottish town of Crieff. Built in the late 15th century and reconstructed in the Victorian era, the private castle is know for its formal terraced garden that is admired for its symmetry and its striking Italianate parterre, with box hedging and copper beech trees. The garden is built into the side of a steep hillside, on top of which the residence was constructed. It was featured in the 1995 film Rob Roy and the 2014 TV series The Outlander. Queen Victoria, who visited the garden in 1842, entered in her diary, “We walked in the Garden which is really very fine, with terraces, like an old French garden.” Unfortunately, rather than complement the clothes Dior presented, the garden dramatically overwhelmed the not-so-fine finery.

It was an astonishingly dull, even draggy, presentation (and to think we stayed up to watch the livestream). The garden is huge—reportedly some 90,000 square meters for the parterre alone. As the manicured verdant expanse could not accommodate seating for fashion show guests, attendees had to be placed under a canopied stretch of chairs alongside the terraces that flank the grand stairway to the castle. Strangely, the models had to take a circuitous route to reach them. They had to walk from the top (where the entrance of the gardens is) down a steep flight of steps before they traversed the central pathway, skirting the famous sundial, and then ambled down the circumference of the central portion of the garden. It was a considerable distance to cover, which meant the show—with 98 looks—took considerably longer to finish than necessary. Unsurprisingly, bagpipe performers provided the soundtrack for the finale

This was possibly Maria Grazia Chiuri most elaborate—and unnecessarily fussy—collection. While we are aware that the cruise collection increasingly belies its name, Ms Chiuri has totally ignored the between-seasons commercial needs, and delivered too many looks that were, for the most part, overwrought, over-detailed, and totally devoid of the ease that typically defines the season. Even those taking a holiday in Scotland and wishing to stroll through the Drummond Castle Gardens would find none of the ensembles particularly suitable. Unless, they were there specifically for a selfie photo-op. Ms Chiuri is more and more partial to special occasion dressing, and her cruise was conceived to appeal to those in attendance, such as Ann Taylor Joy (those horrid stockings), for whom every public event calls for statement-making clothes that would appear absurd away from a branded-to-death photo wall.

We know Maria Grazia Chiuri is no John Galliano when it comes to introducing historicism to a collection. She is not as clever and she is more literal, and she is not repelled by the hackneyed. There was something stodgy about how she represented the so-called Scottish aesthetic. Think Scotland and think tartans or Harris Tweeds, now you can think Dior, too. In fact, tartans featured predominantly, sometimes suits, other times as hooker-dresses. And kilts were aplenty—they were co-created with local brand Le Kilt’s designer Samantha McCoach—and sported punkish kilt belts and even sporrans (small bags attached to the belts). In place of her usual slogans, now-positive attributes “bossy”, “emotional”, “fierce”, “hysterical” were printed in oxblood red on a shirt and a gilet. As a salute to Christian Dior, who showed a collection in 1955 at the Gleneagles Hotel nearby, Ms Chiuri had photographs appliques on some of the pieces, including—in a vertical row—down a pleated skirt that appeared to be a skewed version of her horse-face skirt lookalike. It was a dash of Mary, Queen of Scot, a dash of Rob Roy, a dash of Tudor noble women, and old Raf Simons thrown in for good measure. A country tribute is understandable, but the cliche-driven does not cut a dash.

Screen shot (top): Dior/YouTube. Photos: Dior