Hybrid Paris Fashion Week, both physical and digital, begins

PARIS (AP) — Christian Dior on Tuesday was the first major fashion house to stage a traditional ready-to-wear runway show in Paris since the coronavirus pandemic hit in March.

The show headlined the first day of a hybrid-style Paris Fashion Week. A giant “DIOR”-emblazoned white annex in the chic Tuileries Gardens stood against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, hazy in the drizzle.

Guests were unusually relaxed, with some fashion editors commenting that it was because they had not just flown in, exhausted, from a week of covering Milan. Italy had restricted travelers coming from Paris due to the virus. At Dior, many of the Asian and American editors were missing, making this season a largely European affair. .

Paris, like Milan, is trying to kick off an unusual fashion season for spring-summer 2021. For nine days, the calendar flits between some 16 in-person, ready-to-wear runway collections, with masked guests, celebrities and editors in seated rows; around 20 in-person presentations; and several dozen completely digital shows streamed online with promotional videos.

Some show highlights:

DIOR’S CHURCH

It was serene and airy at Christian Dior. Masked guests -- including a smaller-than-average sprinkling of VIPs, such as model Natalia Vodianova -- were seated in church-like socially-distanced pews. On the walls, '70s-era magazine clippings helped provide flashes of bright color like stained-glass windows. It was part of an art installation by Lucia Marcucci that aimed to transform the space into a Gothic cathedral.

A dozen singers, each behind a lectern surrounding the runway, broke into rousing a cappella singing, led by a conductor. The church was a clever theme because the congregation-style pews, sprawling by nature, allowed for social distancing without...