The guest of honor at this afternoon’s Dior show was not a brand ambassador, but rather an actual political figure: First Lady of France Brigitte Macron. And while Mme. Macron has sat front row before—her friendship with Louis Vuitton creative director Nicolas Ghesquière actually started that way (“She came to a show, we went to lunch very quickly after, and it was love at first sight,” the designer told Vogue earlier this year)—today was her first time taking in a Dior runway.
The presentation of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s spring/summer 2025 collection centered around a performance by Italian artist SAGG Napoli, who shot archery down the runway as models marched around the trajectory of her arrows. The scene recalled the Paris 2024 Games, the presence of which still lingers everywhere in Paris—in the decals splashed across Charles de Gaulle airport, in the makeshift stadiums erected across the Place de la Concorde, in the intractable traffic. The presence of Mme. Macron seated between Queen Sonja of Norway and Bernard Arnault, who is in his way a head of state, drove the Olympic image home.
Her black suit, matching patent Lady Dior handbag, and triple set of pearls were demure by comparison not only to the soundtrack (“Guess” by Charli XCX featuring Billie Eilish, the ultimate brat track) but also to the looks on celebrities elsewhere on the front row—Natalie Portman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Aya Nakamura, Yseult, Elizabeth Debicki. There was no mistaking that Mme. Macron was first among the Ladies Dior.