On 27 May 2025, Dior will show its new cruise 2026 collection to the world. The French fashion house has now revealed the location of that show: Villa Albani Torlonia in Rome.
Dior’s Creative Director, the Italian fashion designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, has a knack for impressive locations. Last year, the label’s cruise show took place at Drummond Castle in Scotland, which resulted in a collection that perfectly mixed Italian elegance with Scottish quality. A style dubbed ‘Celtic posh punk’.
This year, fans of Dior are in for a treat as an 18th-century Villa Albani Torlonia will act as the backdrop – and maybe also the source of inspiration – for the cruise collection. The privately-owned building was designed by architect Carlo Marchionni for Cardinal Alessandro Albani and comprises a large collection of Greek and Roman antiquities. Normally, the villa owned by the Torlonia family since 1866 can only be visited by appointment and no photographs are allowed, meaning the inside of the building has become a bit of a mystery over the years.
“This extraordinary villa, a secret treasure trove of ancient Roman wonders, will exceptionally — and for the first time — open its gates to host the Dior 2026 cruise show. The elegance of the silhouettes dreamed up by Maria Grazia Chiuri will shine within this outstanding cradle of neoclassicism. A symbolic tribute to the powerful and perpetually reinvented cultural ties uniting Italy and the House since it was founded,” Dior said in a statement on Wednesday 14 May.
Maria Grazia Chiuri’s love for architecture isn’t anything new for those who know the designer. Rome-born, she is currently restoring the Teatro della Cometa, or Comet Theater, in the Italian capital as a personal project. Upon opening, the renewed theatre will, amongst other things, feature a bar led by the Italian-American Jonathon Dominic Spada, a well-known figure within the Roman culinary scene.
A swan song in the making?
As it is the first time Chiuri will present a Dior show in her native country, speculations are already arising, with many fashion insiders thinking this might well be her last show as Creative Director at Dior. Kim Jones, Dior’s former Creative Director for menswear, was recently replaced by designer Jonathan Anderson in a year already known for its many creative shifts at fashion houses all over. Allegedly, Anderson is expected to take over all creative oversight for Dior.
