Courtesy of Dior
Maria Grazia Chiuri weaves India’s wealth of textile tradition into Dior’s classic iconography, redefining it for a new era.
In March, Dior presented their pre-fall 2023 show in front of the historic Gateway of India monument in Mumbai. For the collection’s ad campaign, the Parisian maison travels further up north to the heart of Udaipur, the “Jewel of Rajasthan.”
“The vocabulary of traditional Indian dress is expressed through a series of outfits in shimmering shades of silk,” Dior says. “Elements of the Indian landscape and imagery are evoked by bold prints that are transformed into precious embroidery.”
A spectacular series of images features statuesque figures clad in silk, standing under a vast, cloudless sky. A dance of light and shadow plays against a backdrop of ornately structured palaces, trailing the lines of crisp monochrome dresses and reflecting off mirrored sequins.
For Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri, India is “an endless source of inspiration.” She borrows heavily from what she calls the “verticality” of Indian dress—of tunics and sari-wrap skirts with hemlines just long enough to graze the floor. The result is a collection of long, narrow dresses and skirts that afford its wearer a certain versatility and modern affect.
A celebration of India’s culture and spirit, the Dior Book Tote bag is richly embroidered in deep, vivid hues of indigo and seafoam green. The collection also features a delightful nod to Bollywood posters in the form of heavily embroidered graphic prints on jackets, shirts, and, of course, the Book Tote bag, too.
While this excursion isn’t Dior’s first—with past cruise collections being presented in Marrakech, Athens, and Seville—it marks a significant acknowledgment of years of cross-cultural collaboration between India and maisons of haute couture.
Delphine Arnault, Dior chairman, and CEO, tells Vogue Business, “Our unwavering affinity with India, woven from the very beginnings of the house in 1947, and through the shows of Monsieur Dior’s various successors—from Marc Bohan to Maria Grazia Chiuri—has constantly been deployed in numerous creative dialogues combining innovation and ancestral heritage.”
The Dior Fall 2023 collection is in stores now.
