Christian Dior

Womenswear here is cut to a waist. Whatever the garment happens to be, a coat, a shift, a pleated skirt or a tailored jacket, the line is drawn in somewhere above the hip and then given room to move below it, and that one decision governs where a seam falls and how much fabric a skirt is allowed. It is why a piece from the house reads as composed rather than easy.

Around that centre the house works in known codes, with Cannage quilting on leather, printed motifs used as ground rather than ornament, and black and ivory doing most of the heavy lifting while colour arrives deliberately. Footwear follows the same logic: a slingback or a pointed pump that finishes the line rather than interrupting it, and boots cut close to the calf.