Maria Grazia Chiuri Says 'Au Revoir' to Dior | AOC Shares a Breadcrumb from Jonathan Anderson
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Vogue Italia's June 2025 Fendi Focus Is Timely As LVMH Titans 'Up the Ante'
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LVMH Titans Vuitton and Dior Create a Super Brands Team
I see these two LVMH titan brands — Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior — as bookends in this critical luxury business moment.
LVMH has a serious poker hand: Celine will debut in July with its new designer Michael Rider. The word in financial circles is that Loro Piana has edged out Celine in the 2.25-2.5 billion range.
If Fendi will meet the divine, luxury-brand goddess, LVMH financial rainmaker for real — in Rome, where her heart and spirit want to be, this team is playing on steroids, in this high-pressure, no mistakes allowed business moment.
All Roads Lead to Rome, But About Avignon . . .
Especially because AOC is so deep in writing about the Crusades, the birth of humanism and now Pope Leo as a foil to MAGA Republicans, my jaw-dropped as low as it ever has, when Nicolas Ghesquière, Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton Women roared into Avignon last week.
When LV roared out of town, the world’s biggest luxury brand had delivered a big message to all parties. To AOC LV said:
“For crying out loud, Anne. You love that our Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has Adam, Eve and Lilith installed in a relief. Do you seriously think that the French were not deeply involved in the launch of the Renaissance?
If we’re in another historical moment that changes the course of history, France is center stage. Capeesh?
We had to move the Papacy to Avignon from 1309 to 1377, because Rome looked like a MAGA rally on January 6, 2021. Why don’t you write up that story, Anne!”
Trust me, guys. It’s all in the hopper. ~ Anne
Read MoreDior Inspires An Apple with an Arrow, A Pencil at her Throat: Metal Magazine Stirs the Pot
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Chinese model Xie Chaoyu shared one of multiple covers of Metal Magazine [IG] No.51, the Fall/Winter 2024-2025 ‘The Error’ issue.
Emanuele Carrera styled the all-Dior fashion story lensed by Barcelona-based Angie Couple [IG], with art direction by Danidevito Creative Studio. / Hair by Edd Lopez; makeup by Blau
Read MoreA Breathtaking Dior Holiday 2024 Underwater World of Extreme Beauty & Design
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A Breathtaking Dior Holiday 2024 Underwater World of Extreme Beauty & Design
Nature’s grandeur is reimagined in luminous gold for the Dior Cabinet de Curiosités—where magnificent sea creatures reign in brilliant splendor. These breathtaking Holiday 2024 selections from Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior Cruise 2025 collection, staged in Scotland, remind us of the depth and breath of the Dior luxury brand experience.
Alice Kirkpatrick [IG] is responsible for the exquisite set design, with images by Agnes Lloyd-Platt [IG].
For all those who criticize Maria Grazia Chiuri and Dior generally for not being clever enough — or bold enough — AOC points out that she has much more in common with Valentino’s Alessandro Michele with this presentation than with Gucci’s streamlined fashion pablum — that new quiet luxury design direction they’re touting.
Dior Marries Nature, Marine Life and Gold
This underwater theme is actually prevalent in Dior’s new Gold House in Bangkok and it’s projected onto a Dior facade in Tokyo. This architectural design trend requires a separate post focus on Dior’s emerging design presence as a marriage of nature and golden opulence, the key word.
Read MoreDior Cruise 2025 Campaign by Brigitte Niedermair at Drummond Castle in Scotland
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Dior Cruise 2025 Campaign by Brigitte Niedermair at Drummond Castle in Scotland
Dior’s 2025 cruise collection now comes to life in a new ad campaign lensed by Brigitte Niedermair [IG]. Models include Ali Dansky, Jiali Zhao, Sanija Dalecka and Tanya Churbanova, styled by Elin Svahn. Ryan Chappell provides choreography with Alice Schillaci as director./ Hair by Eugene Souleiman; makeup by Peter Philips
Anne has written extensive political commentary about Dior’s thriving brand relationship with women worldwide under Maria Grazia Chiuri and the criticism of her by our industry’s fashion mafia sideliners. The original article link in this post takes you to Anne’s analysis.
Read MorePatriotic Reflections on Dior's Pre-Fall 2024 Americana Tracksuit | Anne Was Wrong
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Dior releases new images from the pre-fall 2024 collection, inspired by the brand’s recent mood embracing New York activism of the 1960s.
AOC considers Maria Grazia Chiuri to have platinum grade design and merchandising instincts. But even Anne thought Dior’s stars and stripes ‘tracksuit’ [above] was Chiuri’s rare flat tire, with its unabashed celebration of stars and stripes Americana. Yikes!
Reconsidering that Dior 2024 Stars & Stripes Tracksuit
After watching night one of the Democratic Convention in Chicago on Monday, I was probably dead-wrong. More tears and overt displays of Democratic, Independent and anti-MAGA Republican patriotism were on display last night, than America has seen in years — maybe decades. Tonight should exceed Monday.
Given my recent attitude adjustment, I now see Chiuri’s track suit as perfect for Democrats’ young Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett [IG], who has represented major parts of Dallas since 2023.
After the eloquently hell-raising speech [IG] Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave in Chicago Monday night, AOC would probably wear the Dior Americana tracksuit, too.
So Anne was right-on in her analysis of an American state of mind unknown since 2008 and maybe not even then. WE are taking back patriotism — and with pride. But I was dead wrong with my haughty-woman response to that Dior stars & stripes tracksuit. Good work Dior; please accept my apologies. ~ Anne
Read MoreDior Fall 2024 Campaign Channels Miss Dior's Second Wave Women's Rights Spirit
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Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri was recently called the most modern couturier working today by Vogue’s Nicole Phelps.
In trying to explain her ‘design ethos’, while unintentionally drawing a line in the sand between herself and Christian Dior, Chiuri explained further. “Couture has historically been about ‘building the body’ with its corset foundations and highly-structured silhouettes. But I don’t want to build the body, I want to release it.”
For her Fall 2024 collection, Chiuri turned to the Miss Dior boutique, opened in 1967 to showcase a separate ready-to-wear collection during the tenure of Marc Bohan.
The designer explained: “I think he was really visionary for the time because the couture house was in difficulty. They had this relationship only with these couture clients—and women were changing. Not all the couture-house creative directors were so visionary to understand the new era, and new women.”
Read MoreWith Her ‘Plan de Paris’ Dior Vision, Maria Grazia Chiuri Triples Dior Revenues in 7 Years
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Clearly the archival map print has achieved major status at Dior, as it rolls forward into fall with a major campaign.
Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri is simply the best of the luxury brand story tellers. On Monday, the creative director was profiled in WWD with that rare breakdown of financial information for a LVMH brand. I knew Dior has done very well, but not that Chiuri has tripled the Dior business in less than seven years. That’s extraordinary.
Tonight, October 24, WWD will present Chiuri with its John B. Fairchild Honor at an awards ceremony in New York City.
Can you imagine how much impact the ‘Plan de Paris’ print will have with the Paris 2024 Olympics? It’s so exciting to see a female creative director have such huge financial impact on one of the world’s premier luxury brands. Bravo Maria Grazia Chiuri!! You are an inspiration for us all. Thank you! ~ Anne
Read More'Dior Or' Ramadan Capsule Collection 2023 Reigns with Discreet Modern Luxury
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Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri introduces her latest Dior Or capsule collection, inspired by gold’s history as a symbol of luxury in the maison.
While golden threads remain prominent in the new capsule, other luminous metallic threads and fabrics — especially silver — weave their way in the ready-to-wear and accessories, which were a timed-release with Ramadan.
Read MoreChristian Dior SS2023 Campaign by Brigitte Niedermair Honors Catherine de Medici
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The Christian Dior Spring 2023 Campaign celebrates femininity, power and grace, as explored through the eye and lens of frequent Dior photographer Brigitte Niedermair [IG].
Models include Carla Pereira, Freja Rothmann, Jen Thomson, Sherry Shi, and Stella Lucia.
Preparing for the season, Chiuri discovered a map of Paris in the Dior archives, one that put Avenue Montaigne at its center, even though the street doesn’t represent the actual center of the city.
In short order, the map became a focal print for the spring 2023 collection — a maverick toile de Jouy print that is a sophisticated addition to Dior’s already rich use of toile de Jouy.
Old World unique artistry and needlework inspire the Dior spring 2023 collection, and raffia is used to maximum advantage. Beautiful raffia coats are decorated with delicate flowers and birds, also in play on the accessories. The embroidery work is spectacular.
Read MoreDior Magazine Presents 7 Spanish Photograpbers Interpreting 'Andalusian Grace' Cruise 2022.23 Collection
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Women’s Status in 2023
There is no stronger voice for women’s rights in fashion culture than Dior’s Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri. Her leadership and creative vision increases in value at a time when women’s rights are under assault worldwide, including in America.
There’s a reason why the word ‘woman’ was the most-searched word on dictionary.com in 2022. Clearly, we don’t know who women are any more. Can you imagine a search for the word ‘men’?
Carrying on with its 21st century Medici mission, after the Cruise 2022.23 show in Seville, Dior invited seven Spanish photographers to engage in dialogue with the brand with their photographic interpretations of the cruise collection that truly celebrated Andulasian culture.
Dior Magazine’s ‘Andulasian Grace’ features these talented photographers: Berta Vicente Salas; Andrea Torres Balaguer; Silvia Conde; Raquel Chicheri; Eva Diez; Irene Cruz; Alba Yruela.
Read MoreDior's Resort 2023 Cruise Show and Ad Campaign in Seville Makes Arnault a 21st Century Medici Name
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The New Medicis
My own takeaways from this extraordinary Dior Cruise 2023 show in Seville is the idea that LVMH, in particular, with its Arnault family really represents the 21st century House of Medici.
Dior is the leader of the pack, presenting a cruise 2023 show that celebrated flamenco artist Carmen Amaya, the first female flamenco dancer to wear men’s clothes, in the 1950s; and centuries of intellectual learning and advancement — much of it closed to women. Chiuri unleashes her history lessons always in her collectons.
The layers of cultural influence in the Dior show are staggering. But this visionary attitude is on display in many LVMH brands.
Their direct support of the artists and creative talent gives the Arnualt family enormous power. Given the alternatives, I am all for it, because the world of rich people is not going anywhere. AOC admits we try to influence this world.
Read MoreDior Magazine #39 Fall 2022 Collection with Steinberg Artified by Elizaveta Porodina
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Top model and Dior face Steinberg poses for the 39th edition of the Dior Magazine, wearing selects from the FW collection that are suspended between present and future. Photographer Elizaveta Porodina [IG] adds her futurist vision that marries antiquities and traditions with a futuristic Dior attitude as executed by Maria Grazia Chiuri.
Read MoreDior Pre-Fall 2022 Campaign Lensed by Alice Mann with Sofia Steinberg, Maryel Uchida
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The overall effect of Dior’s pre-fall 2022 fashion statement channels British pop-punk style, embodying a spirit of defiance and individualism in its embrace of the many ways young women can dress.
Given the sweep of anti-LGBTQIA+ laws and anti-women’s rights laws sweeping through America’s red states, Chiuri delivered a collection that has political roots as well — at least in America.
Like myself, Chiuri used her youthful rebellion against the harsh edges and austerity of a Catholic school uniform — and the perpetual guilt enforced on young women by the Catholic hierarchy — as a foundation for the collection’s visual aesthetic. ~ Anne
Read MoreDior's Spring 2022 Ad Campaign and New Bergdorf Goodman Shop Explode with Optimism
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Dior's Spring 2022 Ad Campaign and New Bergdorf Goodman Shop Explode with Optimism AOC Fashion
Dior releases its Spring 2022 campaign, with its show-stopping, jewel-like colors and sporty vibe. Marc Bohan’s 1961 ‘Slim Look’ wasn’t the only important heritage reference mined for Maria Grazia Chiuri’s spring 2022 show. Bohan’s Dior Sport line was also center stage.
The Dior design vision represents a 180-degree turn in the road from Dior’s Olympics Grecian goddess resort show. As opposed to enduring the pandemic, Chiuri chose to fight back with bold colored, contagious optimism and the ‘60s global spirit of female liberation.
Seeing the unity of dress among young women from America to Britain, Sudan and Afghanistan — YES, Sudan and Afghanistan — reminds us of the perilous, patriarchal attempts worldwide to deny women their own self-determination. The images from that time period are almost impossible to believe, and they certainly created a horrific backlash against women’s fashion integration into global public spaces, previously occupied by men.
Italian artist Anna Paparatti and the legendary Roman nightclub the Piper Club inspired Chiuri’s design direction, one that pays homage to 1960s pop style with a crayola-colors explosion of boundary-crashing, purposeful ‘60s design.
The Spring 2022 campaign is lensed by Brigitte Niedermair [IG] and is timed with the opening of Dior’s new boutique at Bergdorf Goodman New York. References to the new Dior Bergdorf shop — see end of post — are lensed by Francis Dzikowski [IG] courtesy of Bergdorf Goodman.
Music for the events is set to the beat of Daft Punk’s ‘Around the World’, with video by Fabien Baron and choreography by Matilda Fleberg.
The Campaign
Models include Maryel Uchida, Naomi Ekindi, Sculy Mejia and Steinberg. Performers Angela Arcueno, Ahtayaw Ea, Soleila Chaou, Nicolas Huchard, Shirwann Jeammes, Laureen Parruitte and Julia Spiesser also appear in the Dior Sporty runway and campaign images.
Dioramour FW2021 Capsule Collection Adores China's August V-Day by Sarah Blais
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Dioramour FW2021 Capsule Collection Adores China's August V-Day by Sarah Blais AOC Fashion
In China, Valentine’s Day is celebrated on August 14, 2021. Dior’s artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri embraces the power of love with the Dioramour ready-to-wear and home gifts collection inclding DiorMaison Limoges porcelain mugs and dinnerware.
In a bold mix of black, white and red, the Dioramour capsule from the Dior AW 2021 collection hugs the fantasy of fairy tales and 'Alice in Wonderland' with 'D-Chess' checks giving graphic impact to a motorcycle jacket, bucket hat, sweater and silk scarf, and a 'D-Royaume d'Amour' motif scrawled across a white tee.
Sarah Blais [IG] captures the Dioramour collection with video by Fabien Baron. Models are Sofia Steinberg and Maryel Uchida.
Dior Fall 2020 Women's Campaign by Paola Mattioli Honoring Marcella Campagnano
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Dior Fall 2020 Women's Campaign by Paola Mattioli Honoring Marcella Campagnano
Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri presents the French luxury house’s Fall Winter 2020 campaign, lensed by Paola Mattioli. The campaign features Selena Forrest, Maryel Uchida, Maty Fall Diba, Estelle Chen and Felice Noordhoff, styled by Elin Svahn, with some models posing in a T-shirt printed with the Fall 2020 show’s name: “I Say I”. Fabien Baron was in charge of art direction and also production of an accompanying film. / Hair by Paul Hanlon; makeup by Peter Philips
The phrase belongs to Italian feminist Carla Lonzi, who was one of the figures who inspired the collection. Lonzi was an Italian art critic and feminist, best known as the cofounder of Rivolta Femminile, an Italian feminist collective formed in 1970. Read We Are All Clitoridian Women: Notes on Carla Lonzi’s Legacy.
The Fall 2020 Dior Collection and ad campaign was also inspired by Marcella Campagnano.
Dior Pre-Fall 2020 Campaign by Sarah Blais with Jiali Zhao, Ruth Bell and Selena Forrest
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Dior Pre-Fall 2020 Campaign by Sarah Blais with Jiali Zhao, Ruth Bell and Selena Forrest
Dior’s Pre-Fall 2020 Collection features models Jiali Zhao, Ruth Bell and Selena Forrest styled by creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri in images by Sarah Blais./Hair by Benjamin Muller; makeup by Susie Sobol
Dior 2020 Pre-Fall Campaign and Dior x Jordan Collab Resonate Deeply
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Dior 2020 Pre-Fall Campaign and Dior x Jordan Collab Resonate Deeply
Actor Jennifer Lawrence returns to Dior’s pre-fall 2020 campaign in a series of ladylike glamour images that emphasize the perfection of craft over trends. Creative director Maria Grazia Chuiri’s designs evoke Dior-s post-WWII elegance in portraits by Brigitte Niedermair.
The photo shoot happened before the global health pandemic COVID-19, but within this new context, Dior’s campaign images offer a vision of calm elegance, self-discipline and strong backbone.
Too rarefied in 2020, you ask? Hardly, as fashion plunges into a reflection on our own values as consumers and as an industry — staring in the face of a global depression.
Scroll down to witness the delayed but new Dior x Jordan collab that has people talking.
Selena Forrest and Ruth Bell by Brigitte Niedermair 'The Dior Garden' SS 2020 Campaign
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Selena Forrest and Ruth Bell by Brigitte Niedermair 'The Dior Garden' SS 2020 Campaign
Top models Selena Forrest and Ruth Bell front Dior’s ‘The Dior Garden’ Spring Summer 2020 Campaign, lensed by Brigitte Niedermair. Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri describes the collection as an ode to the beauty and diversity of nature.
