Sawt Falasteen - Dior unleashes arrows and Amazons at Paris Fashion Week

Not for the first time, Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri dipped into her feminist quiver to deliver modern, technological looks for strong women taking on the world.

Almost entirely in black and white, her spring-summer collection was inspired by the Amazon dress created by the fabled French brand's founder, Christian Dior, in 1951.

To hammer the mythological point home, Chiuri had the London-based Neapolitan artist SAGG Napoli -- an archer -- fire off arrow after arrow at a target in the middle of the runway as her models marched steelily down either side.

A plexiglass screen ensured noone got skewered but still the heartbeat quickened, helped on by thundering Italian techno.

Chiuri, who loves to use stirring quotes on her creations, cited her fellow Italian after a summer of Olympic and Paralympic triumphs in the French capital: "May the building of a strong mind and a strong body be the greatest work I have ever made."

As for the clothes, asymmetry was almost the rule with one shoulder bare on many dresses, blouses and tops -- all very early 2000s, leaning into younger clients' love of the look.

- Flats and straps -

The sportswear -- heavy on bomber jackets and parachute trousers -- dripped with elaborate zips and straps, with Chiuri stretching out the omnipresent "Miss Dior" logo to its extremes on the clothes until it almost seemed to become a series of abstract lines.

Chiuri said she tried to show the work put into "each garment so that each piece almost tells you how it was constructed".

A few evening dresses in veiled pearl and skin hues also harked back to the Amazons, the matriarchal tribe of women warriors from Greek mythology.

Such powerful women have no need of stilettos, with Chiuri instead going for supple flat Hoplite thigh-high boots, or laced up boxing ones -- although the odd kitten heel did slip through.

Dior was a major player at the Paris Games, dressing Celine Dion, Lady Gaga and Aya Nakamura for their star turns in the opening ceremony show.

Clearly Chiuri wanted to prolong that Olympic afterglow by bringing in SAGG Napoli and her bow, even if the archer-artist is usually an unashamed devotee of very unDior maximalist southern European bling.

Despite all the smiles on the starry front row, with Hollywood actors Natalie Portman and Rosamund Pike rubbing shoulders with Nakamura, South Korean singer Jisoo and French first lady Brigitte Macron, Dior's owners LVMH saw profits fall 14 percent in July amid "economic and geopolitical uncertainty".

Last month LVMH poached Italian CEO Benedetta Petruzzo from Prado-owned Miu Miu to help steer Dior in case more uncertain waters are over the horizon.

E.Aziz--SF-PST