Dior’s new ‘Secret Garden – Versailles’ film fulfills mag potential

I wrote quite a tough review of Dior’s new online magazine when it launched in February, disappointed by the lack of real editorial interest in any of the pieces being published.

While there remain a couple of misses here and there, in general the aim to “both entertain and inform” now seems to be being met. Evidence lies in a couple of great recent pieces, including this Q&A with Hongbo Li, a stylist in the flou atelier at Dior Haute Couture; and this insight on the Dior Homme pop-up shop in New York.

Even better, the brand used the platform to reveal its new autumn/winter 2012/13 campaign film, “Secret Garden – Versailles”, last week. Pushing it out through a number of teasers, it finally revealed both a 60-second short and a full three-minute version, as above, a day apart.

Created by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the film features model Daria Strokous alongside Melissa Stasiuk and Xiao Wen Ju in a deserted Versailles.

“A wondrous path that winds through the Galerie des Glaces, through the palace’s endless interconnecting salons, as far as the grand tree-lined walks that sweep through the classic parkland à la française… a dreamlike fashion show where Versailles is transformed into Christian Dior’s secret garden, his emblematic château,” reads the copy.

Good job.