On “a runway paved with waterbed pillows” at the Orangeries in Versailles, John Galliano presented an haute couture show for Dior that mixed futurism with historical and ethnic references. The team, reported Hamish Bowles after a preview, were “deeply inspired by The Matrix, and they’ve also been thinking about Gainsborough in Persia and ‘Vishnu Knights.’ ” Said Galliano: “The dresses are evil, evil. But you have to have the Romantic—they die for that, my ladies.” After seeing the show, “one would have to wonder,” reported critic Cathy Horn, “whether Mr. Arnault had made a deal with the devil.”
