Dior’s Renaissance

«In my research about the relationship between Italy and France, this time I started from Caterina de’ Medici, who was Queen of France in the mid-1500s,» Maria Grazia Chiuri, womenswear leader at Dior, explained, in a restricted preview between rehearsals and the show. «I worked on the role of fashion as an instrument of power. A concept almost foreign to me and to my perspective, since fashion, for a girl of the 1970s like me, means freedom». At the end, the power of women and the power of fashion are the two poles of the 2023 summer collection for the Lvmh-owned Maison. After reflecting for many shows on feminism and female art and literature, now the designer is exploring the universe of the Queen of France who married Henry II in 1533 and birthed three sovereigns. Chiuri brings back to the present day the bust that becomes an almost geometric shape marking the chest. Thus, the guêpière, sometimes hidden, sometimes evident, builds a silhouette echoing the wide skirts worn at the Renaissance court.

Today's savoir-faire appropriates ancient tradition. Fashion dialogues with what is real through artifice, court fashions undergo metamorphosis. Crinolines are as short as ballet tutus encrusted with gold macramé and are worn with baby shoes with laces that reach the knee. The raffia lace is stunning and complex, and the gold leather gloves, all pierced like lace, are fancy. It is in this context that, to a hypnotic soundtrack with inserts of Björk, dutch choreographers and dancers Imre and Marne van Opstal perform, a creative duo combining a sister and a brother, exploring the human condition, the limits and possibilities of body and mind. All this around a cave inspired by the Renaissance taste for illusion and nature, reinterpreted by French artist Eva Jospin. In the front row the paparazzi go wild for Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Asian stars with millions of followers. However, the unusual buzz in the room is also about the Italian elections and right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni monopolizing the interest of many international guests.

Judgment. «In some outings I took a map of Paris from an archival scarf as a cue to reflect on these six years of my work for Dior,» Maria Grazia Chiuri stated. Once again, this show demonstrated the many layers of her thinking, able to make desirable pieces, creating the magic formula between art and industry that is characteristic of fashion at its highest degree. The collection and the designer's strong (but graceful) thinking invite reflection and openness to new, original points of view. In style and beyond. (All rights reserved)