Play of textures at Dior's Tokyo Pre-Fall 2015 reveal

Raf Simons took his Pre-Fall collection to the Japanese capital where he was inspired by the city's ultramodern mash-up of global styles.  

This season's Christian Dior collection, presented under faux snow in Tokyo, was a riot of competing and clashing styles. "Tokyo is a place that has been and is so constantly inspiring to me," explained Simons. "Particularly in terms of the liberty people take for themselves in how they dress, there is nowhere else like it; the freedom of styles, the new architecture of clothing that you can see forming in the street as well as in the city’s fashion design history... It’s a place that is both extreme and exhilarating."

Contrast collar raincoats were part of a wider game playing off matte and shiny textures and bright and dark colors: Simons went heavy on the sequins, which were a key motif throughout the show. Paillettes covered the polo-neck knits, worn with utilitarian zip-up pieces and leather dresses. 

Double-breasted coats came in English wool with other heritage fabric treatments including wax-coated cottons, Aran and Fair Isle knits, furs and windowpane checks. The classic bar coat shape was of course present, but this time twisted through the sci-fi filter of Japanese manga.