Christian Dior's Whimsical Fall Show Was Inspired By Andy Warhol

The Parisian label chose to hold its Fall 2013 catwalk show inside a special venue erected amid the historic buildings on the Place Vauban, a grand square which was transformed into a zoo pre-show on Friday afternoon, with photographers and show-goers pushing their way through the crowds to enter the space doused in inviting blue light.

Inside, they found silver balloons reflecting an imaginary blue sky and clouds onto the catwalk--a stark contrast to the monotone gray skies outside, framing the mostly black and white tones of the collection.

Some of the pieces were delicately embellished by motifs from a collaboration between Dior and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Early drawings by Warhol were embroidered onto select garments in the elegant collection, providing patches of color and art as decor on monotone outfits in sometimes unexpected places - think a lone golden shoe placed mid-thigh or an image of a woman’s face across the bust on a delicate white dress.

The collection also included bursts of color, like the sophisticated, Red Riding Hood-type coat which was one of several re-workings of early Dior pieces (in this case of a red wool coat from 1948).

Classic Houndstooth patterns also made an appearance. And black and white colors were sometimes combined to create long slim pencil-like silhouettes, with intricate black and white patterns creating constellations and compelling original looks on the garments, which made you look twice just to figure out what was going on.