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Dior honored Josephine Baker and the freedom of the 1920s with the collection it presented on Monday night on the first day of Paris Haute Couture Week, AFP reported.

A singer, dancer, French Resistance fighter and human rights activist, "Josephine Baker is a great artist and the only woman of color admitted to the Pantheon who defines her position and herself through her clothing," the Dior women's collection designer told AFP. Maria Grazia Chiuri.

The gorge was among an installation created by African-American artist Mikalene Thomas, featuring portraits of Josephine Baker, Nina Simone and 11 other women of color who were pioneers in their fields.

Among the audience were actresses Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Adjani, Rosamund Pike, Elizabeth Debicki, Bianca Jagger.

A Dior client, Josephine Baker embodies a different femininity with her muscular body and short hair, different from Dior's iconic New Look with a slim waist and gathered shoulders, accentuated by a highly fitted and cut-at-the-hip jacket and cut-out skirt .

Inspired by Baker's style changes from her arrival in Paris through her first show with strong colonial imagery and a transition to an Art Deco icon, Chiuri pays tribute to them in her collection.

Velvet jackets are reminiscent of the outfits Baker wears in her dressing room after shows.

"Immediately after her success, she made very precise fashion choices - day suits but also pleated skirts...She was extremely aware of how to use her popularity to the benefit of other women," said Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Josephine Baker and Marlene Dietrich, a friend of Christian Dior and another muse of the fashion house and her collection, "represent young women ahead of their time. This is a collection for the woman who wants to choose her own lifestyle," she added.

The collection is a reference to the Roaring Twenties of the last century, "a special historical moment, especially for Paris, where women have great freedom. Silhouettes are simplified, corsets disappear. They dress comfortably, but remain feminine and very glamorous".

Schiaparelli opened the haute couture season in Paris with an abundance of glamorous frivolity and voluminous silhouettes ahead of the much-anticipated Dior show, the Associated Press reported.

Schiaparelli also offered a surreal take on a classic from the 1930s, the heyday of fashion house founder Elsa Schiaparelli.

Gold accents and intricate embellishments lifted the mood at the season's first spring-summer collection show in front of VIP guests in the gilded atrium of the Petit Palais in the French capital on Monday night.

Designer Daniel Rosebery was on top form, transforming classic styles into unexpected patterns.

A dark tuxedo with voluminous shoulders was transformed into a minimalist space suit.

A bronze bustier like a giant oyster shell rises like a fan in front of the model's face. 

The collection paid tribute to the founder of the fashion house, whose unique frivolity charmed audiences around the world.

The collection's giant lion head - fun, inventive and resourceful - was a nod to surrealism, but also a powerful message about the use of fur.

Breaking the rules of Paris Fashion Week, which turns its back on digital, Dutch wunderkind Iris van Herpen proudly announced that instead of presenting a traditional fashion show, the brand will offer "a digital presentation that allows for more creative freedom and storytelling stories".

Van Herpen offered a personal presentation of his spring collection, as well as the stylized video "Carte Blanche", in which, together with Julie Gauthier, he explores how female beauty can be used as a form of control, adds BTA.

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