Captain Pinkerton's tragic affair with Cio-Cio San (Madame Butterfly) was the jumping-point for this 2007 Spring/Summer Dior collection - one of the most elaborate & memorable shows ever staged under John Gallaino's 15-year creative direction at the House of Dior. Kimonos, obis, and geisha make-up & hair-styles were all "Dior-ified" and given a certain veneer of 1950s glamour - the epoch of Christian Dior's zenith and the 'Golden Age' of couture. The Japanese art of paper-folding, Origami, was also employed in suits and ball-gowns, often taking flight in impossible Origami planes of flowers & other fanciful shapes; even Japan's famed Samurai were evidenced in ("armoured") suits.

The sets for the venue where the show was staged were also Japanese-inspired dreamscapes: giant grey 'House of Dior' chairs on a series of podiums, along with other elaborate settings, including what appeared to be recreated aspects of the Dior salons (and white branches of cherry tree blossoms), created the perfect "vignettes" and backdrops against which the models posed and panned for both the cameras and the audience. A sublime collection and one of Galliano's most memorable for the House of Dior.

(Video source: http://www.frillr.com)