Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

The hardest thing to realize in fashion is that the future lies in the past. The second hardest thing is to forget the past.

That precise turn of mind is what Raf Simons showed on Monday as he took control of Dior. And there is no other term for it. He took command of the house, only the fifth designer since Christian Dior founded the company right after World War II.

His debut collection was beautiful, modest in its approach to femininity, and thoroughly engaging from the chic tuxedos and cigarette pants that opened the show to the last outfits: long organza and tulle dresses with their backs embroidered with delicate flowers in one color and the fronts in a more intense, Futurist tone.

In almost every one of the 54 outfits, in almost every detail, Mr. Simons made a connection to the first decade of the house, when Dior himself was at work. He then put those ideas — among them an architectural purity in construction, a preference for pockets, a sense of femininity but also ease — through his own filter.

Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

It’s probably an exaggeration, though not much of one, to say that Mr. Simons swept aside much of the fashion story of the last 15 to 20 years, not least postmodern irony. In any case, he was bold to try — and before an audience that included some of the most respected names in fashion. Among the designers who came to see his debut were Pierre Cardin, Azzedine Alaïa, Marc Jacobs, Alber Elbaz, Donatella Versace, Riccardo Tisci and Diane von Furstenberg. That number is surely a first in fashion. Bernard Arnault, the chairman of LVMH, who is his boss, was seated between his daughter Delphine and Charlene of Monaco. The audience included the actresses Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Lawrence and Sharon Stone.

There was an extraordinary sense of anticipation before the show. “I haven’t been this excited to see a show in a long time,” Emmanuelle Alt, the editor of French Vogue, said. “Today I’m going to see something I’ve never seen before.”

Ms. Versace, seated a few places away, shared her feeling. Ms. Versace, who got to know Mr. Simons when he worked in Milan at Jil Sander, said: “Raf’s so shy. Sometimes I don’t think he realizes how good he is.”

Mr. Simons succeeds John Galliano, who left his own mark on Dior, but was fired in February 2011.

Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

The show on Monday was held in a private house on the Avenue d’Iena. The design of the rooms also reflected Mr. Simons’s ability to draw what he needs from the Dior legacy and invigorate it with his own ideas. Each room was lined, from floor to ceiling, in a solid tapestry of fresh flowers: blue for one salon, white for another, a mixture of yellow roses and pink peonies for still another. Christian Dior loved flowers and cultivated them in his country garden. Mr. Simons loves intense color.

And those colors provided the background for a superbly plain coat in bright red wool, its sides gathered in two or three discreet folds and pockets set slightly back. Dior thought the position of the pockets gave the wearer a more flattering line. Mr. Simons interpreted Dior tweeds, for gray coats and a strapless dress, by updating the pattern with a more geometric feel. The Bar jacket appeared throughout the collection, but the most stunning rendition was in black wool crepe with the base embroidered in thousands of dangling black beads tipped in electric blue. The beads were worked so closely together that the surface resembled fur. A full-skirted gown in white organza evoked Pointillism with tiny frayed ribbons, while another was embroidered all over in pale blue and pink feathers.

At a time when much of high fashion is highly influenced by image, whether iconic photographs from 1950s couture or new manipulated digital images, Mr. Simons’s debut essentially asks people to trust their own eye. His clothes are often so simple that you have to look at them for a while before you see the small gesture or the magisterial way of sleeveless black crepe falls over the body. He gets the most and the best out of couture, and this is just the start.

Slide Show: Spring 2013: Christian Dior Couture