October 26, 2022 |
What is the real power of fashion? It’s a question that Maria Grazia Chiuri has grappled with from her very first collection at Dior in 2016. Back then she showcased a T-shirt which has since gone on to become a museum piece.
Taking its inspiration from the 2014 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie book of the same name, it read “We Should All Be Feminists” and was tucked into a full, tulle skirt. This humble piece proved to be the most controversial design in her debut collection – perhaps the most controversial design of her career – challenging as it did perceptions of luxury and taste and signalling that Chiuri’s Dior would be seen through the lens of the female gaze. More than just a T-shirt, it was a declaration of intent, placing Dior inside debates about female power and agency. Actions speak louder than slogan T-shirts and, in the seven years since, Chiuri, 58, has super charged the brand via her collaborations with female artists and creatives. She communes with feminist writers and thinkers and shoots her campaigns with female photographers. We settle into chairs in her book-lined, light-filled office overlooking the Seine and she reflects on the culture she has built at the brand. “My idea was that, step by step, I can do this to create a community,” she says. “I think the representation of women has to be done and voiced by women, to promote the female gaze, because it is a different point of view. Together we can show different women artists, photographers, singers, because I think it is beautiful to work together but also [I want]to give another voice an opportunity to talk about femininity.” She’s a designer who is able to divine the wants and needs of 21st-century women, but Chiuri is also a cultural force, throwing the weight of one of the world’s biggest luxury houses behind a desire to create feminist ways of working, living and sharing, as well as dressing. She’s shifted the culture at Dior to reflect her female-centric vision.
That desire to collaborate and reach out to others is fuelled by her own outsider status. Not only is she the first woman to helm Dior in its 76-year history, but she’s an Italian at the heart of the most French of houses. As we head past the traumatic last couple of years, she says Dior can use its power to uplift specialist craftsmanship and local communities and, with her travelling cruise shows, she’s shown how it’s done. The latest, held in Seville in June, saw her collaborate with Spanish embroiderers and metalworkers who had previously only worked with churches on altar regalia and garments.
Her habit of travelling around the world and collaborating with local craftspeople has taught her much – not least that couture is everywhere. “Couture means having the specific knowledge to create a unique piece with your hands. Where there are people with the skills to create something with their hands, beautiful things, you can find it,” she says. She’s taking her couture team on a trip back to Seville to learn more. “There are techniques that I found that I have never seen in my life. This is exceptional. This is haute couture.”
For AW22, she pivoted again with an extraordinary collaboration with D-Air Lab, a technical specialist Italian company which makes protective clothing and materials for sports, industrial and other non-fashion uses. Together they fashioned corsets and bar jackets with protective airbag inserts, which also defined the distinctive line of Dior’s fashion architecture. One bar jacket came in a special climate-sensitive version which allows the wearer to maintain a stable temperature whatever the weather. “It’s very clever, very realistic, super comfortable and super functional. Also, fashion has to think about it,” insists Chiuri of her high-tech pieces. She has already imagined a future ‘smart’ wardrobe where we could all travel light in clothes that adapt to their environment.
Creativity, she reasons, doesn’t always have to be a flight of fancy. She wants to challenge the idea that high fashion should always be frivolous and extravagant, “It can be functional, for our style of life,” she says. Her approach to this collection was more akin to architecture, where she was thinking of clothes as “the first house of our body” that are able to offer protection and keep us safe. She’s onto something. Offering clothes that do more than just dress us but protect us, too, feels emotionally right given the advance of climate change and the deep uncertainly in the world.
Hers is a big vision, but one that is directly inspired by Mr Christian Dior himself. In the post-war period, the couturier had radical ambitions for his house, which still reverberate today.“Mr Dior’s idea was to create a worldwide brand,” says Chiuri. “He started to travel around the world to do his collections and at the time this was not so usual,” she says of Dior’s pioneering habit of taking his fashion shows on the road. He gave the world his “New Look” but also a new international approach to the fashion business.
The French fashion industry, which was central to the local economy, was decimated during the war, with many houses closing and skills lost. Dior’s international success helped to re-establish Paris as the capital of fashion and luxury craft, and in doing so gave France its pride back after years of war and occupation. Ever since, Dior has been tied to the French identity.
Reflecting on Dior’s role in rebuilding France, Chiuri says, “This means that fashion has big enough power to support a country to its rebirth after war.” That statement has extra resonance given that, the day before we met, she had presented her couture show, which featured a collaboration with the Ukrainian artist Olesia Trofymenko, who created spectacular tapestries that lined the show space based on the Tree of Life folk motif. For Chiuri, every time she collaborates in this way it becomes an enriching experience.
Craft is really a way to make bridges to communities. We can support each other. I think it’s a language, too, one which we can use to communicate. This is possible in fashion, especially for Dior.”
She talks about how her relationship with Dior has developed over the years, becoming more personal and intimate. “Now we think of Dior as a brand but behind the history is the idea of a man. I look at Dior a lot more like a person and less like a brand,” she says citing Christian’s closeness to his sister, Catherine. An impressive woman who was in the French Resistance, she was captured and tortured by the Nazis but never gave up her comrades. After the war she became a florist and remained an inspiration to her brother, who dedicated a dress to her in each collection. Strong, independent, unflappable: she sounds exactly like the kind of woman Chiuri would like to dress, too.
The modern Dior customer is global and diverse, which means that Chiuri’s approach is very different to that of the founder. Back then, being fashionable meant conforming to a certain look or line. In 2022, diversity is key. “In the past there was an idea of fashion that wanted to impose rules on women but all through my career, I have given [women] options. There is a story[I am] telling about femininity, but there are many ways to be feminine,” she says. “My work is dedicated to women in a way that has to be wearable and has to be light, to help them to enjoy [life].”
Whether it’s a ballgown, jeans or a work suit, Chiuri is aiming for the same emotional response to her designs. “Well-dressed, for me, means that you feel well with yourself. My daughter, Rachele, when she asks, ‘What should I wear?’, I say, ‘Choose the thing you are most comfortable in.’ For me comfort is an important word. I don’t like to feel uncomfortable in my clothes. This is not elegant, when you see someone who looks well-dressed but is uncomfortable.The attitude of the body is completely different. It’s why I like dancers so much, because when you see a dancer, they are beautiful all the time. You don’t look at what they wear because they are confident and comfortable with their bodies.”
Her Dior does not exist in a bubble. Chiuri’s clothes soar with innovation and craft and are built on a real sense of openness and creative collaboration. For the designer, real-world needs, desires and issues are never far away. We talk about Roe v Wade and her reaction to the Supreme Court’s judgement. “For my generation, the USA was really a reference for freedom and human rights. For us it’s a shock, a cultural shock, but I think that we will never stop fighting for it.”Even before the judgement, she’d noticed posters agitating for a similar rollback of abortion rights in Rome. “You think that democracy is forever but we have to be vigilant and [it’s] the same for human rights. We must be vigilant because in one second you can lose it.” Will that sense of vigilance and resistance be reflected in her work? You can be sure of it. “We have to not be passive and to use our voices.” Well said.
Taken from Issue 69 of 10 Magazine – PEACE, COURAGE, FREEDOM – out now. Purchase here.
DIOR: THE FEMALE GAZE
Photographer ARVIDA BYSTRÖM
Fashion Editor OLIVER VOLQUARDSEN
Text CLAUDIA CROFT
Hair SWEDISH HAIR MAFIA
Make-up IGNACIO ALONSO
Models ARVIDA BYSTRÖM and CECILIA DARKOA AGYEI
Set designer FREDRIK SUNDBERG SVARTNÄS
Photographer’s assistant ABDAR MANOUCHI
Make-up assistant JOHANNA LARSSON
