News feed
It was a full house at Christian Dior’s couture spring summer 2022 collection unveiling at the Musèe Rodin in Paris yesterday afternoon. Everyone from Hollywood royalty (Rosamund Pike, Claire Foy) to fashion royalty (Natalia Vodianova, Cara Delevingne) to actual royalty (Beatrice Borromeo, Lady Amelia Windsor) was in attendance, enjoying an unseasonably sunny day in the French capital and a masterclass in the unparalleled craftsmanship of Parisian haute couture. In fact, if there was one takeaway from Maria Grazia Chiuri’s latest Dior offering it was the true value of craft, the collection was intentionally simple to allow the level of couture detailing to truly shine. No gimmicky tricks, no catering to Instagram, just beautiful, simplified clothes made by some of the most talented artisans on the planet.
Floating down the runway to the cool synthy bops of Beach House, this crop of Dior girls wore double-breasted Bar jackets finished in soft white wool, long cashmere capes, and sharp tailored suits. The colour palette was simple, a smooth ombre of blacks, navys, creams, and beiges. Eveningwear was largely minimal—strapless or halter neck chiffon gowns in ink black and finished with little adornment, and there was a surprising amount of bridal looks–bias-cut dresses embellished with crystal (Zelda Fitzgerald eat your heart out) and flowy off-the-shoulder ivory gowns. The haute couture collections are crafted by the dozens of “petites main” seamstresses who work in the Christian Dior atelier (many of whom have been there for decades), and Chiuri opted for simplicity to show off the depth of detail in their work. The cashmere cape, for example, was embroidered together, not stitched, to create the illusion that it’s a singular piece knitted by hand.
But it wasn’t only French ateliers on Grazia Chiuri’s mind. She set the show against a backdrop of gargantuan embroidered tapestries crafted by artists Madhvi and Manu Parekh. They were made by hand by the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, an institution which supports women by teaching them hand-crafts, and with whom Grazia Chiuri has collaborated many times during her tenure at Dior. “There is an idea that Indian embroidery is something cheap,” she told The Guardian before the show. “We talk a lot about the incredible ateliers we have here in the Avenue Montaigne, but Indian artisans make embroidery with just the same knowledge and expertise and depth of tradition as embroidery in France and Italy. This excellence is not just ours.” The pieces took 380 artisans more than 280,000 hours to make—a level of craftsmanship so special, the Musèe Rodin will show the pieces to the public as part of an art exhibition until the end of January.
In a cultural moment where we are finally beginning to take stock of our consumption habits, are less driven by the frenetic and untenable pace of life pre-pandemic, and in which we are realigning our values to reconsider what is truly important to us, Grazia Chiuri’s collection hit all the right notes. Rather than hurtle aimlessly toward the next shiny thing, it pays to sit in the moment and value simplicity. Besides, when ‘less is more’ looks this good, how could you want anything else?
Take a peek inside the making of key looks:
