After a successful run at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris, Dior looks to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo to host its singular exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams. Opening on December 21 and running until May 28, 2023, not only is the exhibition an opportunity to encounter the legacy of Monsieur Dior, but it highlights the unique creative dialogue that has long existed between Japan and the French Maison.

“Christian Dior admired the Japanese for their capacity to 'combine modernism and tradition'," says curator of Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams, Florence Müller.

"A mutual and profound tale of admiration that went on to link Japan – the land of tradition and innovation – with the House, whose retro style revolutionized post-war fashion. With the first agreements signed in 1953 between Dior and Japanese textile companies of prestige, it was also the beginning of a fruitful cultural and artistic dialogue that lives on today with Maria Grazia Chiuri and this exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo," Müller continued.

In a tribute to the revolutionary New Look, the exhibition opens in a monochromatic fashion with a prelude highlighting Monsieur Dior's reverence for art. As the space unwinds, a host of unseen archival documents – letters, sketches, remnants from shows across Japan – are laid out, furthering demonstrating the unique bond shared between both parties, along with evidence from collaborations between Dior and the Daimaru and Kanebo houses.

Another unmissable moment arrives with decadent evening gowns presented as if intended for a ball. As you wander through the exhibition you'll note how each time you gaze upon say, for example, the Lady Dior bag or the J’adore and Miss Dior motifs, they are elevated by Japanese design principles and signature aesthetics.

A spellbinding catalogue is set to be published to coincide with the arrival of Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams in Japan, and it will feature the photographs of Yuriko Takagi, as well as present further documentation about the ties between Dior and Japan.

See some of the most remarkable moments from the exhibition, below.

Explore Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo now.