September 27, 2017 |
Maria Grazia Chiuri’s letting loose. A “shameless excitation of the Sixties” decrees the release – her latest this afternoon. A dizzying homage to Dior forebear Marc Bohan and his muse, artist Niki de Saint Phalle. Chiuri found photographs of her from the era in the Dior archive and became immediately obsessed – a living breathing embodiment of “female creativity”, and the perfect vehicle for her ongoing exploration of womanhood at the house. So the Dior woman is off to the 1960s. And it’s pretty swinging, tbh. Skirts are short, jeans are flared, and those jeans come with a matching bakerboy hat. Fantastic. It’s girly. Pinafore dresses sit over stripy cotton shirts, Chiuri’s signature bustier dress, here split up the front. Something tougher too – leather biker all-in-ones, caged boots, skimpy checkerboard shorts – think: part Jane Birkin, part Liz Hurley a la Austin Powers, and you’re in the area. On another topic: what is it that they say about the carpet matching the drapes? Ignore that, here, the question is: does the dress match the walls? Which would be yes, via a closing frisson of mirrored gowns and body suits, matching the smashed-up mirrors of the decor. Like walking glitter balls. Some of those gowns had sheer skirts atop, open at the front as if ready to whip off at a moment’s notice, worn with foiled knee-high boots. Because who said that the Dior woman can’t be sexy too? Not Ms Chiuri – to her, women are a multitude of things – and in her quest to represent them all on the catwalk, she’s just getting started.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd Evans
