Raf Simons’s New Look

Dior and I, a new documentary by fashion documentarian Frederic Tcheng (who also wrote and directed Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel and co-edited Valentino: The Last Emperor), follows Christian Dior Creative Director Raf Simons over the course of eight weeks as he developed his debut Haute Couture collection for the historic house. Although the film provides an intimate look into Simons’ creative process, Tcheng admits he didn’t know much about the designer before he started filming. “We only exchanged one letter before we met,” said Tcheng at the film’s New York premiere at The Paris Theatre on Tuesday night. “I met him through the lens of the camera actually. He walked into the building to meet the seamstresses and I was already holding the camera.” Nearly three years later, the premiere’s Dior-clad guests included actresses such as Lake Bell, Katherine Waterston, Sigourney Weaver, and models like Hailey Baldwin, Chanel Iman, Lexi Boling, and Aymeline Valade. The ever-elusive Simons, however, was not present. As the film showed, he prefers to avoid the spotlight and let the clothes speak for him. Perhaps, he was designing his next collection—off camera.