Dior Tokyo
Credit: Daici Ano / courtesy of Dior

Subsequent the to overwhelming success at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris, the stunning Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition has travelled to Tokyo this month, celebrating the ties between Dior, Japan and more than 75 of years of creative passion. The highly anticipated projected descends into the MOT, Museum of Contemporary Art of Tokyo, where it will available to visit until May 2023.

An invitation to explore the life of the founding couturier, the exhibition opens with a prelude of Christian Dior‘s unwavering love for art with a room boasting a black-and-white backdrop and stages the revolutionary New Look. The gallery continues illustrating the designer’s fond connection to Japan through unprecedented archive documents – letter, sketches and souvenirs – as well as pieces from shows which took place in Japanese cities.

Dior Tokyo
Credit: Daici Ano / courtesy of Dior

This sartorial voyage continues with the highlighting of creations signed by the different Artistic Directors of Dior. These poetic images face the legendary silhouettes of Monsieur Dior’s successors in a pared-back atmosphere, evoking that of traditional Japanese architecture. Next, visitors arrive at the iconic room of the white toiles, which is reinterpreted in a play of curves.

Credit: Daici Ano / courtesy of Dior
Dior Tokyo
Credit: Daici Ano / courtesy of Dior

The paperwork pieces of artist Ayumi Shibata is also presented within the exhibition. Multiple themes dear to the House – from gold to florals, from J’adore to Miss Dior – are revealed, while the Colorama, a cabinet of curiosities in chromatic shades, is enhanced by the work of Joël Andrianomearisoa, reaffirming the essential role of Dior accessories, from cosmetics and perfumes to the hats of Stephen Jones.

Dior Tokyo
Credit: Daici Ano / courtesy of Dior
Dior Tokyo
Credit: Daici Ano / courtesy of Dior

Visitors can also discover models that have sublimated some of the most dazzling female personalities, from Grace Kelly to Natalie Portman via Marilyn Monroe, who also appears in three Andy Warhol screen prints belonging to the MOT. Selected works from museum collection close the exhibition.

“Christian Dior admired the Japanese for their capacity to ‘combine modernism and tradition’. A mutual and profound tale of admiration that went on to link Japan – the land of tradition and innovation – with the House, whose retro style revolutionised post-war fashion. With the first agreements signed in 1953 between Dior and Japanese textile companies of prestige, it was also the beginning of a fruitful cultural and artistic dialogue that lives on today with Maria Grazia Chiuri and this exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo,” says Florence Müller, curator of the exhibition.

Dior Tokyo
Credit: Daici Ano / courtesy of Dior

A catalogue has been released for the exciting occasion featuring photographs of Yuriko Takagi celebrates the heritage and modernity of the Maison from 1947 to the present day. Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams is open from December 21, 2022 through to May 28, 2023. Online bookings are recommended, here.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
4-chōme-1-1 Miyoshi,
Koto City, Tokyo 135-0022,
Japan

The exhibition is open every day except Monday, from 10am to 6pm.
The last entrance is at 5.30pm.