Maria Grazia Chiuri's Dior New York landed in Brooklyn on Monday night with a front row of megawatts.
While the pre-fall collection, which will hit stores soon, was previewed by fashion media in December and is currently being promoted globally through Dior's latest campaign, its show at the Brooklyn Museum was aimed celebrate the close relationship of the Parisian House and Chiuri. with New York City. And boy, was there a full house, with Rosamund Pike, Anya Taylor Joy, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Rachel Zegler, Diane Kruger, Michelle Williams, New Jeans singer Haerin, and more..
In a sneak peek with WWD on Sunday, the creative director recalled her frequent trips to the city since she was 18; she dreams of holding a Dior show here; admiration for the museum's dedication to curating global feminist artworks and the relationship between Christian Dior and his Christian Dior New York collection, conceived in France and manufactured in New York in 1948, as seen in the exhibition “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams” at Brooklyn Museum in 2021.
In the exhibition, Chiuri drew many parallels between the past and present, seen immediately through two art installations of historical feminist works by Susan Santoro and contemporary neon works by the feminist art collective Claire Fontaine (of the duo Fulvia Carnevale and James Thornhil) that lined the walls of the court of Fine Arts. The symbolic neon “Double Double” hands that were part of the set were, in fact, modeled from drawings of the hands of Santoro, Chiuri, the curators and the seamstresses involved.
“Maria Grazia is an extraordinary person because she is, above all, very generous, because she shares this crucial space on the catwalk with art. These works of art could rival her clothes, but she doesn't see it that way. And in that sense, she is truly a visionary,” Carnevale said of the creative director’s ability to curate creativity across media and eras.
The idea continued through clothing.
When Chiuri previewed the lookbook collection with WWD's Miles Socha in December, the 116 looks leaned toward Marlene Dietrich's soigné, genre-bending style.
On Monday night, his European muse was clearly present in the mix of masculine tailoring and feminine glamour: tuxedo suits with youthful overtones; bar jackets; English tweed menswear and evening dresses (slim, sensual black dresses, or a black and white number that directly referenced the dress Dietrich bought from Lucien LeLong, Dior's mentor). But within the walls of the Brooklyn Museum, the New York vibe was also front and center with a handful of looks created exclusively for the exhibition. On the runway, with Yoko Ono's music blaring, the city's sexy, edgy, and raw mood pulsed through every look.
Nods to American sportswear included a very sporty version of Christian Dior's 1976 Bicentennial hybrid French-American flag silk scarf, reimagined as a nostalgic '90s windbreaker top with sweatpants (which also came with logos by Dior, which will undoubtedly be a commercial success). ), or “New York-Paris” graphic leggings worn with a leather peacoat.
Large-scale motifs of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower on handbags, black and white dresses and outerwear reinforced cross-cultural exchange, while the return of John Galliano's iconic black and white newspaper print used on Saddle bags was modernized with news clippings. from WWD and others, to reflect the important relationship between Dior and the New York fashion media. After all, it was American journalist Carmel Snow who coined Dior's historic “New Look.”
During the preview, Chiuri said that while she was in New York, she often sees girls in short dresses (less clothes) but layered trench coats. Her fabulous flapper-style dresses with micro-sequin embroidery and beaded fringe would certainly fit the bill. She also nails the urban mentality of sneakers and shopping bags on the runway. Comfort and tranquility, from day to night, were key for pre-fall.
“When you go [out] In the city you can have different places and times, but you don't come home, so everything is with you,” he said.
Also returning was the black 1948 Abandon dress with a plunging, asymmetrical neckline, cut more closely to the body in knit fabric to match the sensuality of Chiuri's reworked and often stripped-skin tailoring and flowing dresses with draping at the hem. back.
“The opportunity we have today, with textiles but also with new knowledge, is to translate references in a way that is more usable for everyday life. “Pret-a-porter is about being wearable and travel-friendly too,” she said of the lightweight, 1940s-inspired dresses of hammered satin, crushed velvet and crepe, and slips worn under oversize coats, including a select number in padded Cannage. nylon.
“For me it is more of an investment to have a nice coat, because you use it more. I think it's more functional: something that's durable, that you can wear many times over the years, and you can style it in different ways,” Chiuri said of the countless investment-worthy styles, like a stealthy leather bomber jacket (with painful Franco-American colors). flag motif) paired with a crisp white shirt, tie and below-the-knee skirt, perfect for those New York shoebox apartments.
