Dior Cruise 2025: A Journey from India to Scotland’s Enchanting Castles

Dior Cruise 2025: A Journey from India to Scotland’s Enchanting Castles

As the bustling city of Mumbai basks in the afternoon sun, the Dior boutique in Jio World Plaza offers a cool respite, preparing to welcome its esteemed guests for the launch of the Cruise 2025 collection. The atmosphere is effervescent with champagne bubbles and a delightful array of desserts in subtle shades of cream, pink, and green. These muted tones harmonize with the photo wall, a masterpiece crafted in Paris by the Italian artist Pietro Ruffo. Titled Curiosités de la Mer, the wall’s motif captures the enchanting beauty of the seabed, featuring multicolored seaweed, algae, and a starfish, inviting patrons to celebrate “the magic of dreams and the splendor of nature.”

The Launch Event

Guests, including actor Vijay Varma, content creator and entrepreneur Diipa Büller-Khosla, and Vogue India’s Head of Editorial Content Rochelle Pinto, pose against this captivating wall. The celebration begins as high-net-worth individuals from across the country, such as Lata Patel, Samreen Kaur, Swapna Joshi, Madhu Shah, and Jaya Raheja, start to arrive. Crackers topped with raspberries are served in black trays, adding a touch of elegance to the event.

Inspiration and Collection Highlights

Despite being launched amidst the chaos of a busy Indian city, the Cruise 2025 collection draws inspiration from the lush green mountains and deep blue seas of Scotland. The collection reinvents the look of the iconic figure Mary Stuart, combining Scottish craft traditions with modern punk elements while retaining the simple, minimalist cuts that the House of Dior is renowned for.

Unveiled earlier this year in Scotland’s fairytale Drummond Castle Gardens, the collection’s silhouettes range from romance to punk. It comprises dresses with accentuated shoulders, knitwear, sculpted corset armors, and intricate embroidery of unicorns and thistles, symbols of Scotland. The collection merges fragile lace and velvet with sportswear, cotton, and wool fabrics, engaging in a dialogue between disparate materials. Moreover, its tweed sets, Argyle motifs, kilts, and tartan patterns pay homage to Scotland’s rich textile and fashion history.

Powerful Femininity and Iconic Accessories

For Maria Grazia Chiuri, the first female creative director of Dior, it was crucial that the collection’s looks and accessories conveyed a “powerful, impetuous femininity.” The leather riding boots, worn with high socks, are ferocious, embellished with zips and multiple straps, described by fashion editor Samantha Conti as “fit for battle.” The chokers highlight bold, chunky pendants with marine motifs, reminiscent of Scotland’s sweeping coastal landscapes, while the bags’ shoulder straps are adorned with heraldic symbols celebrating the House and Scotland.

Most notably, the collection brings back Dior’s iconic saddle bags. The kidney-shaped bag had skyrocketed in popularity when sported by Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw in the show’s fifth season. Since then, it has been elevated to the status of ‘it bag,’ seen on style icons like Paris Hilton and Beyoncé. In the newest collection, saddle bags adhere to the punk theme of Cruise 2025, featuring basic shades and clean, minimalistic designs embedded with bold silver borders or skillfully perforated craters.

The Guest Experience

In elegant, minimalistic—often monochromatic—looks, the guests at the Cruise 2025 launch add a vibrancy to Jio World Plaza as they cheerfully amble around the Dior boutique, keenly observing and trying on jewelry and shoes from the new collection as well as some of the House’s classics. Champagne glasses are emptied and refilled. In one of the trial rooms, a secretive tarot reading is in progress.

In addition to Cruise 2025, the Dior Men’s collection by Kim Jones is also on display, comprising a range of pants, shirts, and accessories, as well as footwear. A shelf is taken up by slides for men: chunky, platformed, denim, monogrammed, in various materials.

A Theatrical Touch

Actor Vijay Varma appears in a theatrical, single-breasted suit from Kim Jones’ Ready to Wear Winter 2024 collection. Reminiscent of the simplicity of the sixties and seventies, its earthy brown, tasselled sleeves, and gently flared trousers contribute a smooth fluidity to the outfit. Suave as ever, Varma poses against the Curiosités de la Mer wall art, then floats around the room, with all eyes falling on his pearl brooch, which showcases the initials CD. With a gold-finish safety pin and three white crystal pearls hanging off like droplets, the brooch stands out on his solid-colored, high-collared shirt.

A Scottish Escape

As Varma laughs with guests, outside, the sun begins to set, and Mumbai’s peak hours of traffic commence. Somewhere, a bus honks, a fight breaks out between two drivers, a car screeches to a halt. Inside, however, guests are completely immersed in the Dior universe, where only relaxing, muted tones and the playful rebellion of black prevail. Between the walls of the Dior store in Jio World Plaza, they have been whisked away to the breezy, picturesque castles of Scotland.

For more information on Dior’s iconic collections, visit Dior’s official website.