Dior Resort Collection 2009

John Galliano marked the unofficial kickoff to a season that retailers and even editors have all but officially accepted as full-fledged. (Can't you just sense the ticking clock strapped to its haphazard, spread-out schedule?)

He did so for the third year running with the full pomp and celebrity we've come to expect chez Dior. Like iron shavings drawn to a magnet, a fleet of town cars bounced along underneath the 59th Street Bridge and disgorged their precious cargo—Jennifer Lopez (with an adoring Marc Anthony), Christina Aguilera, Lauren Hutton, Charlize Theron—outside the soaring, vaulted space of Guastavino's restaurant.