In Puglia, Maria Grazia Chiuri developed a taste for the Mediterranean wardrobe that would never leave her. If you’ve ever wondered where the rustic romanticism of the Roman couturier’s vision for Christian Dior stems from, these are her roots. Following a cruise show in Marrakech that approached that most ancient tunics-and-sandals sensibility from a nomadic point of view, Chiuri said she was ready for something that felt “intimate” to her on a different level. Taking Monsieur Dior’s treasure trove of inspirations – much as it only encompasses ten years – out of its time frame and into present-day pragmatism, Chiuri presented an haute couture collection that hailed the freedom-of-choice character of this old craft.
The Mediterranean sensibility transpired towards the end of the show. She received the Légion d’Honneur on 1st July 2019. The collection was another step on the way to cementing her reality-driven vision for Dior, even if she sometimes throws in a walking house.
Chiuri commissioned Penny Slinger, a London-born American artist of the 1960s who practised a sort of feminist surrealism, to design the set. Slinger was more or less elided from art history. At Dior’s Avenue Montaigne headquarters, the artist Penny Slinger transformed the interior of 30 Avenue Montaigne, the house’s historic atelier and storefront. Custom wallpaper and flooring and a massive tree sculpture, all in black and white, gave the runway a dark, mystical backdrop.
The caryatids of Ancient Greece and more modern Paris architecture are a perfect metaphor for this collection, functioning as they do as both decorative elements and integral structures. This was Chiuri’s most confident couture outing to date, and also her most exquisite.