February 27, 2019 |
The feminist slogan T-shirt returns! For AW19, Maria Grazia Chiuri revived one of the best selling ideas from her debut Dior show (SS17 for those with goldfish memories). Her first look was a sequel to the “We Should All Be Feminist” tee that has become the most timely and talked about piece Chiuri has designed (the V&A have it in their collection). Onto a catwalk lined with female alphabet artworks by Tomaso Binga, strode a model, wearing a “Sisterhood is Global” T-shirt tucked into a grey tweed circle skirt with a shiny bucket hat atop her head. The text, in faded blue lettering was taken from works by Robin Morgan, the American poet and feminist thinker. Other T-shirts inspired by Morgan read “Sisterhood is powerful” and “Sisterhood is Forever”. For Chiuri, her Dior catwalks are more than just an opportunity to show clothes, she wants to engage in a timely conversation about womanhood, identity and self. That’s how this show progressed – each outfit building a picture of a diverse Dior woman.
Chiuri has been looking at fifties fashion and found rebel heroines in the teddy girls of the era, who wore masculine leather and denim jackets with their sweeping dirndl skirts. Throughout the jackets were roomy and oversized, whilst the skirts were full, swirling, cinched with a wide leather belts. When it came to ballgowns Chiuri took the unconventional approach, styling them over striped knits and throwing a boyish blouson jacket over the top. Add winkle picker monk shoes and chain handle lady bags and you have an intriguing mix of butch, femme and woke.
Photographs by Jason-Lloyd Evans.
