Since debuting at Christian Dior in 2016, Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri has used her collections to amplify her convictions and especially as a feminist, but this show had more impact than other shows as just the day before Harvey Weinstein’s New York rape trial ended in a guilty verdict. The #MeToo movement's fury is replaced by happiness. Finally, victims of harassment and rape are being taken seriously thanks to solidarity.
In collaboration with the feminist artist collective, Claire Fontaine vindicated signs displayed over the catwalk of the Fall-Winter Dior show with "Women Raise the Upraising.” “Consent. Consent. Consent.” “When Women Strike the World Stops.”. Chiuri found her inspiration for this show from her own feminist awakening in the 1970s. As a young woman in Rome, she recalls a time when relations between sexes, and what women chose to wear, were being politicized for the first time. The collection started with photos of herself as a teenager with her seamstress mother. The ’70s gave Chiuri the strong attitude she has today.
Chiuri also turned to the 70's Dior archives reviving collections designed by Bohan during those pivotal years. Bohan dressed women who welcomed a freer lifestyle and even launched a Dior ski line. The Chiuri Dior collection was reflected in the ease of the silhouettes: comfortable yet refined suits, loose trousers, and flowing tops. sexuality was kept to a minimum replaced by practicality for a powerful woman on the go. The color palette evoked the working class in dark tones of blue brown, green, and red, with standard white and black. The worker’s sensibility was also shown with bandanas and newsboy caps. Strong messages on t-shirts were stamped with “I Say I,” a phrase lifted from the Italian critic and activist Carla Lonzi. As the the first female creative director at Dior, one of the most important jobs in the industry, Chiuri uses her great influence to improve the world and inspire us all the to be feminists.
DIOR FW 2020/20. Photographer Christian TARRO TOMA
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