Raf Simons latest Dior collection presented in traditional index card format
"I had a few minutes spare before a lunch meeting, so I wandered into a tiny antiques shop on Kensington Church Street to kill some time. The first thing I saw was a huge pile of 1950s and 60s fashion cards", says Cambridge Research Fellow Dr. James Fox. These cards provided inspiration for a way to present our favourite backstage moments photographed by Louise Damgaard at Dior A/W14, accompanied by detail of fabric and style, usually reserved for buyers.
"The cards and Damgaard's photographs are a perfect fit – the Dior models' poses are certainly reminscent of the original 50s and 60s staged positions"
"In the days before online browsing, shoppers would go to big department stores and trawl through these cards in order to select their outfits", he continues. "It reminded me of the way that libraries used to catalogue their books. I thought the cards were absolutely wonderful: each one of them had clearly been hand-made by a shop assistant: the photographs were carefully cut out and the details entered with a typewriter."
The cards and Damgaard's photographs are a perfect fit – the Dior models' poses are certainly reminscent of the original 50s and 60s staged positions. We are so often presented with front-on catwalk shots which give limited understanding of the garment. Here, the models' positioning and movement allows Raf Simons' voluminous padded dresses and side-split dresses with delicate jewels to be seen in all their glory.
Curated by Agata Belcen and Laura Bradley
