DIOR Autumn-Winter 2024-2025 Haute Couture Show celebrating Faith Ringgold

.new collection
Threads of Freedom
DIOR AW24-25 Homage to Faith Ringgold

written Monica de Luna

Dior’s Autumn-Winter 2024-2025 Haute Couture Show emerges from the fusion of art and fashion, a poignant tribute to the late Faith Ringgold. Her prolific legacy of activism and creativity continues to inspire. Under Maria Grazia Chiuri’s visionary guidance, Dior’s Creative Director, the collection celebrates Ringgold’s indomitable spirit, seamlessly blending Haute Couture with powerful narratives of female empowerment and artistic rebellion.

Faith Ringgold, born in 1930 in Harlem, New York, passed away in April 2024, leaving behind a legacy that spanned over seven decades. Her multifaceted career as a painter, sculptor, performance artist, writer, and educator was marked by a relentless pursuit of social justice. Ringgold’s work, deeply rooted in African American identity and gender equality, found a resonant echo in Chiuri’s latest collection for Dior.

Read why!

“You can’t sit around and wait for somebody to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it.”

— Faith Ringgold

SCENOGRAPHY © ADRIEN DIRAND
© Faith Ringgold @acagalleries
© Chanakya School of Craft (12)

SCENOGRAPHY © ADRIEN DIRAND
© Faith Ringgold @acagalleries
© Chanakya School of Craft (3)

The show was a dazzling spectacle, merging the elegance of Haute Couture with the raw energy of Ringgold’s artistic legacy. Chiuri’s audacious use of jersey—a material traditionally shunned by couture—defied conventions and redefined luxury. Metallic hues of gold, silver, and white jersey cascaded over models, with ultra-light bustiers sculpting their silhouettes, creating a symphony of classical aesthetics and modern innovation.

The scenography with installations showcasing some of Ringgold’s most iconic series: Freedom Woman Now and Woman Free Yourself. These political posters, born in the early 1970s, were potent reminders of Ringgold’s enduring feminist and activist spirit. Freedom Woman Now, with its interlocking triangles and bold declarations, remains a clarion call for gender equality—a message as powerful today as it was over fifty years ago.

Chiuri’s collection also paid homage to the classical peplum, reimagining this historically significant garment within the context of contemporary women’s political freedom. The intricate draping and pleating of the pieces echoed the fluidity of movement, nodding to athletes from antiquity to the present day who have continually pushed boundaries and shattered barriers.

One standout feature of the show was the reinterpretation of Ringgold’s Windows of the Wedding #1: Woman, a series that celebrated the collaboration between Ringgold and her mother, Madame Willi Posey. Banners inspired by this work highlighted the symbiotic relationship between art and fashion, weaving together personal and collective histories. The thangkas, traditionally used in Tibetan art, were transformed into vibrant backdrops, underscoring the collection’s rich thematic depth. Simply fabulous!

also read DIOR HC SS 2024 Collection Review

The collaboration with the Chanakya ateliers and the Chanakya School of Craft brought Ringgold’s Civic Center L.A. Subway Commission mosaics to life, reimagined as stunning embroideries. These life-sized recreations adorned the runway, blurring the lines between art and Haute Couture, celebrating the unifying power of creativity ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Red, Christian Dior’s “color of life,” pulsed through the collection, infusing it with vitality and defiance. A bathrobe embellished with mosaic mirrors stood out, transforming a mundane item into a statement of artistic rebellion. This fusion of couture and sportswear, classicism and rebellion, showcased Chiuri’s knack for crafting a narrative that is reflective and visionary. Chiuri’s homage encapsulated Ringgold’s legacy, underscoring Haute Couture’s power to challenge perceptions and inspire change.

As Ringgold herself said,

“The most important thing, to me, in life is inspiration. I want to inspire others and I want to be inspired.”

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(c) DIOR HC AW24-25

Dior x Rosalía *The New Face of Lady Dior

.new campaign
The New Face of Lady Dior
Rosalía as Global Ambassador

written Amanda Mortenson

High fashion is all about reinvention without losing its essence. Dior's latest stir? Tapping Grammy-winner Rosalía to disrupt the classic elegance of their newest campaign. She brings a bold, fresh spin to the timeless narrative.

As the new global ambassador for the Lady Dior, Rosalía brings an electric freshness to this iconic accessory, reinterpreted by creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri.

seen COLLIER SCHORR
creative direction MARGOT POPULAIRE
styled ELIN SVAHN

make up ARIEL TEJADA
hair OLIVIER SCHAWALDER
set design EMMA ROACH

production NORTH SIX

Dior’s choice of Rosalía is a testament to her compelling influence in music and culture. Known for her raw, expressive artistry, Rosalía aligns perfectly with Dior’s ethos of luxury and innovation. The campaign images, seen by artist and photographer Collier Schorr, delve deep into the intimate settings of a studio adorned merely with a microphone and a piano. Here, the essence of live performance is celebrated, linking the auditory pleasures of music with the visual feast of fashion.

The visuals are a blend of spontaneity and careful orchestration, highlighting the profound intensity of both color and black-and-white photography. Schorr captures the multifaceted singer in moments of sublime radiance, her magnetic presence intertwined with the architectural silhouette of the Lady Dior bag. The stark, emotive backdrop allows Rosalía’s unique persona to shine, reflecting the myriad expressions of elegance and strength.

Rosalía's role as Dior’s ambassador is rich with symbolism and fresh energy. The campaign is an ode to freedom, a dynamic fusion of past and present that champions the power of the arts and ultramodernity.

Through her, Dior celebrates a bag and a renewed vision of what fashion can represent—an amalgamation of tradition and bold, contemporary expression.

This power duo pushes boundaries, making Dior a vanguard of contemporary luxe. Rosalía, a symbol of transformative artistry and fierce femininity, perfects the role of muse in a spectacle where music and couture collide.

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(c) DIOR 2024
seen by COLLIER SCHORR

Christian Dior *Haute Couture SS24

.new collection
DIOR Spring/Summer 24
A Haute Couture Odyssey in the Rodin Museum

written Alban E. Smajli

The Dior Spring-Summer 2024 Haute Couture show in the Rodin Museum gardens was a spectacle where art and fashion collided in a riot of creativity.

Orchestrated by artist Isabella Ducrot, the installation "Big Aura," with its twenty-three oversized dresses, redefined the space into a vivid tableau, resonating with haute couture's grandeur.

Christian DIOR
Haute Couture Show Finale
seen & courtesy Adrien Dirand

Maria Grazia Chiuri, the maven behind Dior's women's collections, ventured into the essence of haute couture for this collection, embracing Walter Benjamin's concept of 'aura'. Each piece, unique and bespoke, was a testament to haute couture's evolution and personalization.

At the core of this narrative was the iconic "La Cigale" dress by Christian Dior from 1952. Its sculptural form and moiré fabric symbolized the sacred craft of the Atelier, merging art and apparel. The collection showcased a spectrum of iridescent hues over moiré fabric, a tribute to Christian Dior's legacy.

Chiuri's designs echoed architectural elegance. She revisited and reinterpreted details from Dior's archives, creating contemporary silhouettes that celebrated the versatility of materials, blending innovation with timelessness.

The collection show was a visual poem: Black velvet dresses flowed elegantly, while an opulent feather cape adorned an embroidered double organza dress. The Millefiori motif on a yellow moiré dress and the sway of long threads with each step illustrated the dynamic, living art.

Isabella Ducrot's "Big Aura" elevated the show, with its colossal dresses symbolizing the aura Chiuri sought to capture. The installation's presence and scale brought to mind the regality of Ottoman sultans, using exaggerated dimensions as a metaphor for haute couture's grandeur and dignity.

Ducrot's use of checkered patterns, typically associated with the ordinary, brought a fresh perspective to high fashion. This pattern, often linked to manual labor, was reimagined, challenging traditional views of value and beauty in materials.

The Dior S/S24 collection, set against the backdrop of "Big Aura," is a masterful blend of art, history, and contemporary fashion.

It´s an embodiment of haute couture's transformative power, bridging past and future, ordinary and extraordinary. Chiuri's designs and Ducrot's art made the show a testament to haute couture's enduring allure and relevance in the modern world.

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(c) DIOR Haute Couture SS24

header group shot seen & courtesy Laura Sciacovelli

Dior's Haute Couture AW 2023

*New Collection
A Visionary Homage to Feminine Power
- Dior's Haute Couture AW 2023/2024 Collection

written John Heath

With every tick of time, haute couture shapes its own epoch, consistently breathing new life into the past. This continuum of history and excellence is epitomized in Dior’s newly unveiled Haute Couture Autumn-Winter 2023/2024 Collection. With this daring assembly, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the Artistic Director, spins a fresh tale of haute couture, drawing inspiration from the seminal wardrobe archetypes: the tunic, the peplum, the cape, and the stole.

credits
DIOR Haute Couture AW23
Scenography

(c) Laura Sciacovelli

Every model in this collection conjures an otherworldly divinity, walking in the footprints of goddesses who have, in their time, wielded power over our world. The lines are clean, vertical, contrasted with flat shoes. The colour palette – predominantly white, beige, silver, and pale gold – speaks of regality and refinement, as well as a sublime tranquility.

Chiuri's distinctive touch, ever-present in this collection, pays homage to the essence of femininity, an interplay of strength and vulnerability. With each new look, she pushes the boundaries of haute couture, challenging and reinterpreting the quintessential symbols of Antiquity. The défilé becomes a contemporary ritual, a cyclical representation of the female form as a nurturing pillar of the community, powerful yet delicately crafted.

Yet, this collection is not just about reviving the past, but rather, it serves as a compass pointing us towards a future steeped in sensitivity and conscientious attention to detail. The garments are, in essence, a poetic embodiment of a world where the feminine spirit is revered and celebrated, where strength and fragility are not binary, but coexist in harmony.

This Dior haute couture line transcends the temporal, positioning itself in the realm of timeless fashion. It not only magnifies the vision of Maria Grazia Chiuri but also amplifies the voice of every woman who dares to dress as the deity she is. The Autumn-Winter 2023/2024 collection is a grand manifesto, declaring the evolving aesthetic of Dior, and undeniably leaving a lasting imprint on the haute couture landscape.

A standing ovation for Maria Grazia Chiuri and the House of Dior, for once again, they have managed to blend the old with the new, and reimagined the familiar with the fantastic, a feat that deserves nothing but acclaim. This new collection is a statement: one that pays tribute to the past, stands firmly in the present, and guides us towards a luminously couture future.