In an age where critics are wont to cry “cultural appropriation,” Chiuri stepped carefully to pull off a respectful tribute, melding the traditions of Mexican dress with Dior’s French heritage. The nipped-in waists of equestrian-style jackets and full, sweeping skirts showed echoes of Dior’s “New Look,” and a toile de Juoy print looked distinctively French.

Dior Cruise 2019.
Dior Cruise 2019.
Image: AP/Thibault Camus
Dior Cruise 2019.
Dior Cruise 2019.
Image: AP/Thibault Camus

“This kind of tradition of embroidery is part of my culture, which comes from southern Italy where my father was born, but also in the south of France, as in South America,” Chiuri told Women’s Wear Daily. “In some way, I think that all the South has the same language. When we speak about lace, when we speak about embroidery, it’s such a part of different countries that it’s very difficult to understand where they come from.”

According to Vogue, an eight-woman escaramuza team flown in from Mexico opened and closed the show—in custom Dior, of course.

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