Maria Grazia Chiuri’s perception has been key within the revival of Dior since her appointment as inventive director of the home in 2017. The designer has additionally made a long-lasting impression along with her runway reveals, the place artwork serves each her convictions and people of the style world. Because the information of her departure has come out, Numéro is revisiting seven of her memorable collections.
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Maria Grazia Chiuri steps down from inventive course at Dior
It’s official, Maria Grazia Chiuri is leaving the home of Dior. Appointed in 2016, the Italian designer, who beforehand labored at Fendi and Valentino, has proven exceptional longevity in an trade always shaken by turnovers.
As the primary lady to carry the place as inventive director on the iconic French fashion home, she leaves a wealthy legacy behind her, impressed by the model’s historical past, her personal passions – artwork particularly – in addition to the feminist causes which have pushed her.
Her first Dior present and its memorable slogan
In 2016, Maria Grazia Chiuri took over the Dior ateliers. In September that very same yr, she offered her highly-anticipated first assortment for the home. This Spring/Summer time 2017 present left a long-lasting impression due to the Italian designer’s dedicated message. It redefined the model’s identification whereas establishing the foundations of her new aesthetic.
This was showcased notably by way of corsets and voluminous tulle skirts, however above all by way of easy white t-shirts printed with a quote that has since develop into iconic: “We should always all be feminist.” This political slogan, taken from the eponymous 2014 essay by author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, highlights Chiuri’s historic function as the primary lady to take Dior’s creative reins. It marked a significant turning level, underscored by this highly effective runway present.
The artists behind Maria Grazia Chiuri’s 2020 Cruise present
Deeply rooted within the historical past of the home, Maria Grazia Chiuri’s collections usually reference pivotal durations. Take, for instance, the Cruise 2020 present held in Marrakech, which evoked Yves Saint Laurent’s transient, but revolutionary period at Christian Dior in 1960. Demonstrating each her mastery of the topic and her openness, the Italian designer invited quite a few native couturiers and creators to reinterpret a number of the home’s most iconic items.
Thus, the ladies of the Moroccan affiliation Sumano, specializing in textiles and ceramics, created a fringed wool coat. In the meantime, African American artist Mickalene Thomas reimagined the Bar swimsuit with beaded embroidery and prints impressed by her personal works on the again. British-Jamaican designer Grace Wales Bonner additionally provided her interpretation of the New Look, incorporating raffia embroideries. Designer Pathé’O, often known as Nelson Mandela’s tailor, created a high printed with the portrait of the late politician. One can even be aware the collaboration between British-Guinean Martine Henry and Stephen Jones on a sequence of turbans.
When Judy Chicago created the set for a high fashion present
Pushed by her feminist message and fervour for artwork historical past, Maria Grazia Chiuri has invited many feminine artists to her reveals to be able to discover the connections between the feminine physique, fashion, tradition, and artwork. For the Spring/Summer time 2020 high fashion assortment, she selected one of many pioneers of American feminist artwork: Judy Chicago.
Within the gardens of the Rodin Museum, the latter envisioned a monumental set up entitled The Feminine Divine. As a tribute to feminine energy, far past its reproductive means, this set questioned the empowerment and affect of ladies. “What if girls dominated the world?”, Judy Chicago wrote on the partitions and banners…
The open-air Dior present in Lecce
This was most likely one of many best reveals of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s period at Dior. Held after the Covid pandemic, the occasion came about within the Italian designer’s native area of Apulia, extra particularly within the small city of Lecce, within the coronary heart of the Piazza del Duomo. For that event, the cathedral was towered above with a light-weight set up created by artist Marinella Senatore.
On the paved sq., Israeli choreographer Sharon Eyal unveiled a efficiency impressed by the Pizzica, an historic, liberating dance from the area. In brief, a implausible Dior Cruise 2021 present on the crossroads between arts and fields, celebrating each the Italian craftsmanship expensive to the designer and the experience of the French home’s ateliers.
Eva Jospin’s installations impressed Maria Grazia Chiuri
From scenography to silhouettes, the whole lot displays the meticulous work of inventive director Maria Grazia Chiuri on this Spring/Summer time 2023 present. The designer drew her inspiration from town of Paris, but additionally from one lady who left a everlasting mark on the capital: Queen Catherine de Medicis (1519–1589). A key determine in Franco-Italian historical past, she was additionally chargeable for the creation of the Tuileries Backyard.
In reality, it was inside this backyard that she had a grotto constructed, which was later destroyed within the seventeenth century. Invited by Maria Grazia Chiuri, artist Eva Jospin particularly reproduced it for the present. Rising from this set up, the fashions appeared to step straight out of the sixteenth century. Certainly, all of the hallmarks of the French courtroom of that period have been there, from Burano lace to crinoline attire and skirts, in addition to corsets, which have been launched into the royal workshops by Catherine de Medicis.
Joana Vasconcelos’ Valkyries at Dior
A number one determine on the modern Portuguese artwork scene, Joana Vasconcelos has been invited to tackle quite a few prestigious initiatives, from the Château de Versailles and the Venice Biennale to Le Bon Marché and, extra just lately, the set design for Dior’s Fall-Winter 2023-2024 present.
Drawing on her gigantic and notorious Valkyries – installations made of material, earthenware, and pottery – the artist created a grandiose and colourful setting. Surrounded by these natural, multicolored varieties, friends have been immersed in a feminist universe the place the artist’s inspirations have been absolutely expressed. As a reminder, the Valkyries are virgin, fierce goddesses, daughters and messengers of the god Odin in Norse mythology.
Maria Grazia Chiuri pays tribute to Religion Ringgold
For her Spring/Summer time 2024 high fashion present, Maria Grazia Chiuri paid tribute to American artist and activist Religion Ringgold (1930–2024), who had handed away only a few months earlier. Within the Rodin Museum’s gardens, the partitions and ceiling have been adorned with works impressed by the artist’s works. Her pioneering feminist and anti-racist activism courting again to the Sixties, which made a long-lasting impression on the historical past of Western artwork, was highlighted. Her work opened the door for a lot of artists of colour and activists to have better house for expression.
This trigger deeply resonated with the Italian designer’s values. For the event, she revamped Religion Ringgold’s artworks and included them into dozens of banners and round thirty life-size, embroidered mosaics.
