Well the fashion world waited with bated breath yesterday as Raf Simons sent his debut collection for Dior down the catwalk.  All can very seriously exhale now as the show was a spectacular and glorious success.  Simons suggested his aim was to stick to “the codes of Dior” but with “more energy”.  His judges were a lot tougher than Simon Cowell as they included the crème de le crème of fashion Riccardo Tisci, Marc Jacobs, Donatella Versace, Diane Von Furstenberg and Alber Elbaz.  

"Before the show, I found it difficult to imagine what Raf would do at Dior," admitted Versace, "but from the very first look today it made total sense."

"[It was] absolutely poetic," Elbaz told the Guardian. "It was perfection. Today was a beautiful marriage between a designer and a house."

"Raf Simons did a SUPERB Dior show! Very DIOR! Another talented Belgian! Love Diane," tweeted von Furstenberg. 

"It was what you hoped for and more - it was such a beautiful homage to Dior, a mix of the modern, clean and unexpected with a real lightness of touch," said Vogue fashion director, Lucinda Chambers. "It was more elegant than elegant and he trod a brilliant line of being him and being respectful of Dior, I loved it."

Jacobs said the collection was "absolutely magnificent" and Tisci called it "very Raf".

LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault was the one who chose Simons and suggests on the matter “the greatest talent of the moment for Dior, the greatest house in the world."

This debut will be considered one of the most talked-about debuts in fashion history.  Simons merged his usual minimal aesthetic with the sweet, femininity of Dior which suggests he is certainly putting his own stamp on the existing brand qualities.  So it appears after all the speculation, post the termination of John Galliano’s contract, and the names that were being thrown around such as Jacobs, Tisci, Haider, Hedi Slimane, Stefano Pilati and Erderm, the brand is now in very safe hands.