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Since the start of her tenure as creative director of Christian Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri has imbued every collection with a powerful homage to women. Whether it’s collaborating with iconic female artists on bespoke artworks for Dior’s runway presentations, emblazoning Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie memorable essay title ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ onto an internet-breaking t-shirt, or creating collections that pay homage to the late, great art historian Linda Nochlin, for Grazia Chiuri fashion and feminism go hand in hand.
All of which is to say that the brand’s latest partnership should come as a surprise to no one. This week Dior announced a partnership with the Ewha Woman’s University in South Korea, the largest female education institute in the world. Founded in the late 19th century, Ewha began when an American missionary named Mary F. Scranton travelled to Seoul, where she began teaching classes exclusively for women. The school quickly became a pioneering institution, the first educational institute dedicated to women in all of Korea (today it’s considered one of South Korea’s most prestigious universities.)
The Dior x Ewha partnership will include long-term mentorship programs with financial support for students, as well as exchange and internship opportunities. The brand announced their partnership with an unprecedented runway event, staging a show featuring the Dior Pre-Fall ’22 collection at the Ewha campus, which was attended by South Korean celebrities like Blackpink’s Jisoo, the actress Suzy, and the former figure skater Kim Yuna. University students watched the show live from an auditorium.
“For me it was a very positive choice to stage the fashion show here at the university and to have the possibility to instigate a real dialogue for the future,” explained Grazia Chiuri of the decision. The Italian designer sealed her commitment by taking to the runway wearing the university’s signature green collegiate jacket during her bow. University merch never looked so good.
