Maria Grazia Chiuri on the rise of crafts and shows in Mumbai

Dior Fall 2023 collection

Left: dress, earrings, necklace, $2,150, sandals, $790, Dior. Right: jumpsuit, $4,100, earrings, necklace, $2,150, ring, $530, sandals, Dior.

Dolly Devi

Where you might see stitches, Maria Grazia Chiuri sees a tongue. More precisely, "a language of women". The painstaking work they have done in domestic spaces, without fanfare or recognition, is like an oral history passed down by needle and thread. "In fashion, we were more focused on volume, shape, fit," she says. During this time, the craft “wasn't celebrated that much. There was an idea that it was only decoration, that it was not language."

dior fall 2023 collection

Dress, earrings, necklace, $2,150, ring, $530, sandals, $790, Dior.

Dolly Devi

When Chiuri became Dior's first female artistic director in 2016, she made it a point to speak in this feminine language, working with female photographers to reverse the long tradition of the male gaze that has dominated fashion imagery. "They don't make images where the woman is an object, but a subject," she says. Chiuri has collaborated with artists such as Mickalene Thomas and Judy Chicago, designer Grace Wales Bonner, and feminist poet and author Robin Morgan, women who, she says, "helped me think about the relationship between the body and clothes ". And she shed light on the work and valor of regional artisans, who may not be bold names, but who have always had a bold, if little-recognized, impact on fashion and beyond. Their craftsmanship is “in conversation not only with fashion, but also with art,” she says. Her Fall 2022 couture release featured intricate embroidery inspired by the work of Ukrainian artist Olesia Trofymenko, while

Maria Grazia Chiuri on the rise of crafts and shows in Mumbai
Dior Fall 2023 collection

Left: dress, earrings, necklace, $2,150, sandals, $790, Dior. Right: jumpsuit, $4,100, earrings, necklace, $2,150, ring, $530, sandals, Dior.

Dolly Devi

Where you might see stitches, Maria Grazia Chiuri sees a tongue. More precisely, "a language of women". The painstaking work they have done in domestic spaces, without fanfare or recognition, is like an oral history passed down by needle and thread. "In fashion, we were more focused on volume, shape, fit," she says. During this time, the craft “wasn't celebrated that much. There was an idea that it was only decoration, that it was not language."

dior fall 2023 collection

Dress, earrings, necklace, $2,150, ring, $530, sandals, $790, Dior.

Dolly Devi

When Chiuri became Dior's first female artistic director in 2016, she made it a point to speak in this feminine language, working with female photographers to reverse the long tradition of the male gaze that has dominated fashion imagery. "They don't make images where the woman is an object, but a subject," she says. Chiuri has collaborated with artists such as Mickalene Thomas and Judy Chicago, designer Grace Wales Bonner, and feminist poet and author Robin Morgan, women who, she says, "helped me think about the relationship between the body and clothes ". And she shed light on the work and valor of regional artisans, who may not be bold names, but who have always had a bold, if little-recognized, impact on fashion and beyond. Their craftsmanship is “in conversation not only with fashion, but also with art,” she says. Her Fall 2022 couture release featured intricate embroidery inspired by the work of Ukrainian artist Olesia Trofymenko, while

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