The fabrics of always in silhouettes of the future. This is how the collection that he presented this Tuesday in footbridge the firm Christian Dior hand in hand with the Italian designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, who integrated technology for the first time in their dresses to adapt to extreme temperatures. The name of the collection, ‘A new era’, set the tone for this new commitment to clothes that are now explores her principles of craftsmanship not only in weaving and sewing, but also in her technical ability, thanks to a collaboration with the Italian start-up company D-Air Lab. Technical elements are integrated into the garments, giving rise to a dialogue until recently unimagined in luxury brands such as Dior, more anchored in classicism and tradition than young designers who have so far experimented with technology. In fact, Chiuri defended in a statement that this line represents a concept of “posthumanity”.
Gray colors, inflatable corsets and in the shape of a life jacketblack fishnet dresses, maxi leather belts, pleated maxi skirts and military boots shaped the line, which seemed to turn the models into modern warriors.
Experience the #DiorAW22 show as it unfolds live from Paris and discover the new collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri. https://t.co/0Boffe4OlG— Dior (@Dior) March 1, 2022
An unintended intention -the creation of a collection takes months- and even more so considering that the brand refrained from making comments or gestures related to the war in ukraine after the military invasion of Russia, a country where Dior is one of the most requested luxury brands. Among the examples of this alliance between technology and fashion, the jumpsuit that opened the catwalk stood out, a simple black mesh attached to the body with integrated lights that seemed to reproduce the veins of the human body, able to maintain body temperature. The ‘Bar’ jacket, short, narrow-shouldered and marked at the waist, also adapts to the new times by integrating a technological system that has an intricate heating device in the back. To counteract the futuristic style, Dior tried to give it a more biker feel, playing with the gloves and elbow pads, which featured technical panels and modernized the silhouette of the ‘New Look’, the traditional skirted tailored suit that made Dior famous in 1947. Chiuri didn’t forget evening wearwith the introduction of a spectacular red chiffon dress, pleated and with a swan neck, and a similar one in black, with a pronounced neckline and a long Grecian tunic.
Take a tour of the striking scenography for the #DiorAW22 show from Maria Grazia Chiuri https://t.co/Dlrn3eXODW featuring ‘The Next Era’, an extensive artwork by Mariella Bettineschi based around reinterpreted classical painted portraits of women.
© Photo: Kristen Pelou pic.twitter.com/AscSzZrNHR— Dior (@Dior) March 1, 2022
stars and artists
The parade started with 45 minutes latemost likely due to the lack of the star guest: the singer Rihannawho arrived looking pregnant -as has been the case in her last appearances- and got out of the car with high heels and a minidress more than three quarters of an hour after the scheduled time. Along with her were other celebrities such as the actress Anya Taylor-Joy, the model Elle Macpherson and Victoria Federica de Marichalar y Borbón, granddaughter of Juan Carlos I, who managed to take a photo with the Barbadian star, as she showed on her social networks.
After taking in today’s #DiorAW22 show https://t.co/Dlrn3eGdMo, and wearing a #DiorFall22 coat and lace-trimmed tulle dress, long-time House friend @Rihanna went backstage afterwards to meet with Maria Grazia Chiuri and congratulate her on the new collection.#StarsinDior pic.twitter.com/qWKpDTfFJ3— Dior (@Dior) March 1, 2022
The parade atmosphere was sober, with a spectacular installation in red color and a hundred paintings decorating the walls, the result of the work of the Italian artist Mariella Bettineschi. Bettineschi recovered some of the most famous female portraits in painting, many of them exhibited in the Louvre, colored in black and white and edited with a surreal touch, as the eyes appeared bent, as if cut with a knife, “like the eye ripped from ‘Un perro andaluz’ by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí”, reads the brand’s statement. “Chiuri has decided to join forces with Bettineschi for the staging of the parade around the complex theme of time through the prism of art and its historycontinuously questioned by generations of artists”, she adds. The work of this artist is, according to Chiuri, the cornerstone and conceptual stone of this collection, in which she wanted to review the heritage of the house with futuristic codes. And she gave a fundamental clue: technology will not be able to stay on the sidelines.
