For Maria Grazia Chiuri, each collection represents visual poetry, a dialogue between the history of Dior and the ever-changing constellation that is the contemporary world. Justine Picardie’s book Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture retraces the life of Catherine, Christian Dior’s sister, and celebrates figures such as Mizza Bricard and Marguerite Carré who contributed to the success of Monsieur Dior.
A network of women, a true creative force in the Dior universe, that Maria Grazia Chiuri decided to honor by transforming the emblem found on the jute bags of the Dior family business into a heraldic motif that emblazons numerous pieces. It has become the symbol of a new sisterhood: that of the House of Dior, with the motto L’union fait la force (strength through unity). The rallying cry is brandished by the Dior Fall 2022 line, reaffirming the collaborative dimension at the heart of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s creative process.
This coat of arms underlines the major inspiration of the show: the use of the uniform revisited by Monsieur Dior’s sophisticated interpretation, with its pleated jackets and skirts. While it can refer to personal sartorial choices that define one’s identity, the word “uniform” predominantly elicits notions of a group that erases differences. Maria Grazia Chiuri became interested in school outfits and, above all, in the way students dust off, revamp, and update the tropes of these garments, personalizing them with distinctive details, verging on punk overtones, before venturing through urban landscapes in search of spaces of freedom.
This Dior Fall 2022 collection to be presented in Seoul – an unprecedented event for the House, for which this will be a first fashion show in the Republic of Korea – thus offers a repertoire of perfect shapes with continuous digressions. It is composed of pleated skirts, black and white kilts; jackets that borrow from the men’s wardrobe, rethinking the iconic Bar jacket; men’s long coats and ultra-short skirts; biker shorts matched with white blouses and black ties. Elsewhere, 3D embroidery reveals itself through knitwear, while a fantastic pixelated zodiac is rendered in the style of a video game. The materials favored include fabrics most associated with menswear, but also technical fabrics basking in a reflective Dior grey. A series of evening gowns, especially designed for the show, echo the volumes of the founding couturier’s emblematic silhouettes – such as the Junon model – reinvented with asymmetrical cuts, irresistibly daring.
The looks evoke strong concepts such as involvement, communion and sharing – central values for the female figures being paid tribute to, in parallel with the Atelier’s petites mains, and their golden fingers that have woven Dior’s history.
