From Scout to Screen: Bringing the Beauty of Scotland to Life for DIOR
The Challenge.
In early 2024, the LS Productions Locations team hit the road to scout a wide-ranging list of central Scottish settings - each carefully chosen to capture the high-fashion aesthetic and rich sense of place behind the DIOR Cruise 2024 Collection.
Tasked with delivering 21 editorial shoots for multiple production partners across just three days - alongside the headline runway show at Drummond Castle Gardens - it was a location and logistics challenge of the highest order. One that demanded meticulous planning, deep-rooted knowledge of Scotland, a sharp eye for fashion, and flawless problem-solving under pressure.
A Creative Vision of Scotland unlike any other.
When DIOR creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri set out to create its 2025 Cruise Collection, she sought to craft a campaign that was not just visually striking but deeply embedded in Scotland's history, fashion heritage and landscapes. Dior, himself famously was struck by the beauty of Scotland, writing in his 1956 biography:
"I lingered a little in Scotland. I had heard so much about its beauty that I had feared to be disappointed - on the contrary, I was even more struck by the beauty of the country, the castles, and the moors, than I had expected’.
This spirit was very much alive in the final collection, an ode to tartan, Scottish craftsmanship, Mary Stuart and Jacobite styling which required breathtaking locations, to bring to life the creative vision. The locations needed to emphasise the history and essence of Scotland, highlighting the pallets, textures, craftsmanship and storytelling to bring to life an iconic high fashion vision of Scotland and its heritage.
Balancing Creativity with Practicality.
With the creative bar set high, practical and logistical requirements were also central to unpicking the vast locations jigsaw. Due to the number of shoots, the teams involved and the transportation of the collection pieces, it was essential that the team only focused on Scottish locations an hours drive from the showbase at Drummond Castle, Perthshire or the collection base at Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh. This honed the search to landscapes and castles across central and south east of Scotland, specifically Perthshire, Edinburgh, East Lothian and the Scottish Borders.
Also key to the search criteria was finding locations that were either in close proximity to each other or estates that could provide contrasting locations so that multiple shoots could take place across each day to optimise the volume of delivery required but maintain quality standards.
Across a total of 12 days the teams scouted a series of locations including Linlithgow Palace in West Lothian, Tantallon Castle, a number of coastal locations in East Lothian, a vast array of estates in Perthshire including Gleneagles, Glen House in the Scottish Borders as well as an extensive scout of Drummond Castle itself where the main runway show would be taking place. Furthermore, for the shoots set in the natural landscapes, the locations needed to be easily accessible either on foot or by car for the whole production team.
In contrast to the castles and sweeping landscapes, the Scottish capital, Edinburgh would also be taking centre stage for a number of interior and exterior shoots, set against the city's Neo-Classical and Scottish Baroque architecture of the Old and New Towns, both of which are UNESCO World Heritage sites. With intimate knowledge of the city's locations, filming permissions and controls coupled with an extensive network of contacts across the city LS were able to focus on securing impactful locations that would enhance the storytelling but that were easily controlled and accessible - which was no easy feat with Edinburgh gearing up for the summer tourist season.
Speaking about the project LS Locations Scout, Chris McCluskie said, "The sheer scale and ambition of this project from start to finish was incredible. We knew the locations we’d need to find would have to be pretty special to match the awesome creativity behind this unique collection. But it was always a fine balancing act between the aesthetic, logistical and practical to make shoots as smooth as possible for our production teams."
To see a full showcase of the final shoots and what the LS Productions locations teams achieved, visit the LS Productions website here.
