Lady Dior took a backseat this season – it was Miss Dior’s turn to take the wheel. The inspiration for Maria Grazia Chiuri’s collection was Catherine Dior, the powerhouse sister of the brand’s founder, Christian. Entitled “Valkyrie Miss Dior,” this offering was a lesson in female empowerment, so what better way to signal that girl bosses are very much still in fashion than naming the collection after one of the key female figures in Norse mythology? Tasked with guiding souls of the dead to Odin’s Valhalla (read: Viking heaven), Chiuiri’s models brought divinity to the audience instead.

Essential house codes were ever-present. Structured black pencil skirts were paired with open white blouses while cap-sleeved iterations left bras exposed for a sultry twist. Button-up dresses came belted at the waist and splayed into full skirts for a modern take on a silhouette that ruled the 1950s. Songstress Édith Piaf’s famous number Non, Je ne regrette rien was honoured in the form of graphic tops emblazoned with the words, suggesting that Chiuri’s vision of Miss Dior is unapologetic and defiant in the way she dresses. Sleek leather gloves, pointed court shoes worn with sheer socks and compact Lady Dior bags proved to be the modern woman’s accessories of choice. And, of course, houndstooth was in abundance – covering neat, cropped jackets, billowing skirts and more technical puffers. Chiuri also enlisted artist Joana Vasconcelos to decorate the show space with larger-than-life embellished structures, indicating that this was the designer’s take on heaven and here, God is indeed a woman.