Reflection has been a buzzword this year. For Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, this season, the focus was on creating a cohesive, engaging narrative for her moments of reflection. Wearing her influences on her sleeve—from Italian filmmakers to 19th-century painters—she created a small world that acted as a window into her psyche.

Dior’s Spring/Summer 2021 collection featured many floral prints, leather vests, flowy dresses, and sheer fabrics. The styles weren’t confined to one occasion: there was everything from reworked men’s dress shirts and braided belts, to more casual wear, like the kimono style jackets.

The setting was held within a dimly lit tent in the Jardin des Tuileries, with the only prominent source of light coming from a series of colorful collages fit into stained-glass windows titled Vetrata di poesia visiva, or “Visual Poetry in Stained Glass.” The windows, designed by Italian visual artist Lucia Marcucci, featured figures from across the European art world, ranging from French painter Claude Monet to Early Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca, whose work features dramatized images centered around our humanism. This was a fitting choice, as many of the show’s details act as a reflection of a constantly transformative society, where ideas regarding femininity and our innate behaviors are increasingly being questioned.

The soundtrack to the show was an ensemble of 12 female singers from the ensemble Sequenza 9.3, who punctuated the show with fierce, visceral vocals as the models walked the runway. Chiuri envisioned the presentation as an “installation,” a series of artistic elements coming together to form a multifaceted project. Another source of inspiration for Chuiri was Alina Marazzi, an Italian filmmaker popular for her documentaries on the female condition, such as Vogliamo Anche le Rose (or “We Want Roses Too”), which examined the sexual revolution of the late ’60s.

The show is in many ways an examination of the trajectory of feminine virtue through various eras of fashion and art and achieves its purpose, unconventionally and compellingly, through a blend of multiple mediums of self-expression coupled with a renowned fashion designer’s intricate, tasteful eye.