Arca and Oliver Coates worked on Dior’s Cruise 2022 runway soundtrack

Models walked to orchestral arrangements of tracks like No Queda Nada and Wound.

Dior’s latest fashion show featured musical direction from Arca and Matt Robertson, and orchestral direction from London-based composer, cellist and producer Oliver Coates. The luxury French fashion house held its Cruise 2022 show at the historic Panathenaic Stadium in Athens last week (17 June). The show was soundtracked by the esteemed Athens Symphony Orchestra, who were joined by Coates as part of the catwalk proceedings.

Coates conducted the 70-piece orchestra through a selection of his own compositions – Butoh baby and arpeggio flowers looping – while also performing a trio of emotive string renditions of Arca tracks No Queda Nada, Calour and Wound. LA-based Greek musician Ioanna Gika also performed. Arca’s music was arranged for the orchestra by Talia Morey.

Arca shared a series of snippets from the show with fans via Instagram, writing: “Thank you to the team that made it possible for these orchestral arrangements to come to life”. She also offered a special thank you to Coates, who she described as, “[one] of the few musicians I would entrust to work with on a project like this on this planet.”

 

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Back in January, Arca collaborated with Coates on the project Madre. The release followed on from 2020’s KiCK i LP, which featured in Crack Magazine’s Albums of the Year list.

“I wrote Madre years ago, and I did Madreviolo playing the cello myself, before working with Oliver,” Arca said at the time. “After recording Madreviolo, I destroyed the cello I bought specifically for this. It had to be like a one-time thing for the version where I pitched up my vocal to castrati registers. But the original version with my unprocessed vocals, which felt a necessary version to share alongside Madreviolo needed an arrangement that I could envision but couldn’t hear. When I shared the acapella version with Oliver there was an insane resonance and chemistry; where he took it felt like the place I dreamed of but couldn’t reach without him.”

Elsewhere on the fashion circuit, Arca recently starred in Calvin Klein’s latest campaign alongside Honey Dijon and King Princess. She also starred in Daniel Lee’s latest Bottega Veneta campaign. The ‘Wardrobe 02’ model line-up also features former Crack Magazine stars like Little Simz and slowthai.

Watch the Dior Cruise 2022 show in the player above.