The new Rizzoli book traces Dior&rsquo;s legacy through light, movement, and memory.

&ldquo;I believe clothes and the people who wear them become more beautiful through movement.&rdquo; That line opens Dior by Yuriko Takagi and sets the tone for the entire book &mdash; a dreamlike exploration of the maison&rsquo;s history told through motion, light, and fleeting moments.
Takagi steps inside the storied 30 Avenue Montaigne headquarters and frames it like a memory: staircases, windows, and corridors appear as fragments that feel pulled from a dream. As Kazuko Koike writes in the foreword, they become &ldquo;memories that materialize from nothing.&rdquo; Within these surreal settings, Dior silhouettes seem to float, turning the building itself into a stage for couture.

Takagi&rsquo;s lens doesn&rsquo;t just focus on finished looks. She lingers on the toiles &mdash; the muslin prototypes that hold the earliest shape of each design. Curator Olivier Saillard calls them &ldquo;negatives on which the next collection is projected&hellip; at once ghosts and pioneers.&rdquo; Their sparse lines and unadorned forms reflect Christian Dior&rsquo;s own obsession with cut and structure, reminding viewers that this is where every idea begins.

What makes Takagi&rsquo;s work distinctive is how she treats light as another subject. She overlays silhouettes with flowers, shadows, and architectural motifs, creating layered images that feel almost like paintings. &ldquo;Light is never still,&rdquo; she writes. &ldquo;It moves, even imperceptibly. When I photograph, I count the seconds between its movements.&rdquo; The result is a body of work that feels suspended &mdash; halfway between reality and reverie.

Throughout the book, flowers appear again and again, a nod to Christian Dior&rsquo;s love of gardens and a signature element of the house&rsquo;s visual language. In Takagi&rsquo;s hands, they are not simply decorative but almost symbolic &mdash; bridging past and present, Galliano and Chiuri, history and rebirth.

At 156 pages and published by Rizzoli in a 9.5 x 13.2&ndash;inch hardcover, Dior by Yuriko Takagi is more than a photography book. It&rsquo;s a meditation on what makes Dior timeless: its ability to merge technique with poetry, structure with motion. For fashion lovers, it&rsquo;s an intimate look at the maison through a uniquely Japanese gaze &mdash; one that sees couture not as static but as alive, always in motion.

"Dior by Yuriko Takagi" by Yuriko Takagi, text by Kazuko Koike and Olivier Saillar.

Photographer Yuriko Takagi's 'Dior' Book Captures the Maison in Motion

L'OFFICIEL PHILIPPINES SEPTEMBER 2025 - Janine Gutierrez ₱600

Photographer Yuriko Takagi's 'Dior' Book Captures the Maison in Motion

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