Dior-Pre-Fall-2023-Campaign
Dior Fall 2023 campaign. Images by Viviane Sassen.

It’s been over a month since Maria Grazia Churi presented her Fall 2023 collection for Dior on the skirts of Mumbai’s historic Gateway To India arch.

Yet, the fashion designer’s ideé fixe is still clearly the rich sartorial heritage and vibrant high-octane hues this South Asian country engulfs you in. For Dior’s Fall 2023 campaign, Churi is once again turning her attention to India’s inextricable link with the French luxury maison and the dimensionally elegant source of inspiration the country’s opulent landscape provides.

Dior-Pre-Fall-2023-Campaign
Dior Fall 2023 campaign. Images by Viviane Sassen.

Escaping to the northern lake-flanked city of Udaipur in Rajasthan, Dior took several of the walled-cities marble palaces to shoot their latest campaign, inviting a dialogue between traditional Indian dress and innovative French prêt-à-porter as it creates a new vocabulary onto itself.

One of Chiuri’s most signature Chiuri-isms is her fascination with the craft of design; the bespoke and generational mode of spinning fabrics into beautiful silhouettes that can only be achieved through a human touch and an artist’s eye.

Dior-Pre-Fall-2023-Campaign
Dior Fall 2023 campaign. Images by Viviane Sassen.

The images, lensed under the scorching Indian sun, invite the Dior woman to experience the collection afresh. In the daylight and in their natural element, in turn exalting the exceptional techniques that have become synonymous with Indian ateliers.

With Udaipur also referred to as the ‘city of sunrise’ these balmy images also frame the collection with a sense of lightness, effervescence and tranquility. Keeping in with Dior’s signature visual landscape, one or several models are arranged to be entangled with the scenescape, creating a sense of mise-en-scène that places the natural beauty of the location on par with Chiuri’s designs.

Dior-Pre-Fall-2023-Campaign
Dior Fall 2023 campaign. Images by Viviane Sassen.

Classic Dior silhouettes, like the ‘new look’ bar jacket and glistening evening wear are juxtaposed with standout pieces from the collection, including an ivory two-piece silk set emblazoned with graphic illustrations of Indian animals and long sleek tunics that are slit at the waistline to encourage a sense of feminine modernity.

This campaign, which explores the interplay of vibrant colours with the concept of light, could also be seen as a sartorial ode to the respective vibrant Holi and sacred Diwali festival.

But ultimately, it’s a continuation of what Chiuri does best: spotlight artistry through a luxuriate language.