Dresses that speak. Or rather, that launch messages of emancipation, feminism. These are the two trademarks of Maria Grazia Chiuri, creative director of Dior for six years. Alongside women to give them a voice. The last to walk the catwalk with one of her creations was Chiara Ferragni who showed off the manifesto dresses of the Italian designer on the stage of the Ariston who gave the maison a boom in sales.
Since 2017, when the first Chiuri collections went on sale, Dior’s revenues have tripled, reaching 6.6 billion euros. And there are whispers that Dior may even catch up with its biggest rival for Parisian fashion bragging rights, Chanel. But has the designer really rewritten the rules of fashion? If you ask the Guardian who on the site reports a long interview with the first female creative director in the 75-year history of the maison. And Vivienne Westwood is said to have been disappointed not to be chosen when the post went to John Galliano in 1995).
“Everyone was so surprised when I became the first woman in charge. Nobody was talking about the fact that I’ve been working in fashion since I was 20.” Chiuri was little known outside of the industry, but she was revered at its core, having created the iconic Baguette bag for Fendi in the 90s and, with creative partner Pierpaolo Piccioli, revitalized Valentino in the 2000s. “I think it’s very difficult for women to get into positions of power. The narrative is always that the geniuses are men. Because nobody remembers Vionnet [Madeleine, pioniera dell’abito tagliato di sbieco]? He was more of a genius than many men.”
When the lights went down for Chiuri’s first Dior show in September 2016, the public expected a new look. A new hem, a new colour, a reinvigorated new era – these are the ways a new designer stamps an identity on a brand. Instead, we received a new set of values. A new point of view. A slogan T-shirt, featuring the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie quote “We should all be feminists”. Chiuri has touched a raw nerve, elegantly questioning the way feminism is seen as an opposition to femininity. It was a radical vibe, coming from Dior, a house which, since it exploded onto the front pages of the newspapers in 1947 with the New Look – a cinched waist, the suggestion of childish hips under a full skirt – has represented a vision romantic and traditional of femininity.
Chiara Ferragni at the Sanremo Festival
Dior “created that silhouette when women in France were very thin, because of the war. He wanted to give women bodies that gave them optimism for the future. Her sister Catherine had returned from a concentration camp, so to give her this big dress, where she could look in the mirror and see this new body, was to give her hope.”
But 1947 was a lifetime ago. Times change – that’s literally the sense of fashion.
“Having a single silhouette today objectifies women. We must never forget that fashion speaks of society’s relationship with women’s bodies rather than men’s. I grew up in a feminist family, in a patriarchal society. Abortion, divorce – these themes were there when I was growing up, and there were a lot of discussions in my house. My parents didn’t tell me that I had to find a husband, they said: “You have to study, you have to find a job, you have to create a life and be independent”.
Chiuri was born and raised in Rome, with a seamstress mother and a military father. “It was a family of workers. The clothes had to be resistant and functional.” The intellectual approach that she brought to Dior is in contrast with a domestic life always rooted in the practicality of clothes: she grew up surrounded by her mother’s sewing patterns, she then married a bespoke shirtmaker, Paolo Regini, whom she met during a vacation in Sardinia. At their wedding, she wore a simple white skirt, lace shirt, and beige coat.
The author recalls her childhood in the 1970s as a time of social upheaval in Italy. She was six when divorce became legal, 13 when she was abortion. Her parents embraced the changing climate, encouraging their daughters to pursue career ambitions, even though her mother was “obsessed with the English style”. Little embroidered shirts! The way she wanted to dress me did not represent who I was. ” A 12 years Chiuri discovers the flea markets of Rome, rummaging through vintage jeans and American jackets. In design school she chose to major in accessories, a decision that served her well as she came of age in the 90s, obsessed with It-bags and trophy shoes. From Fendi and then Valentino, she has carved out a successful career while remaining under the radar.
Things changed when, at the age of 52, she made a big leap into the spotlight by taking the job from Dior. To this day, he maintains an air of self-possession, with an unusually professional demeanor in an industry where ostentatiousness is a default.
Chiuri always talks about women, in the plural, rather than a woman. A consumer reaching for her wallet is, in the pedantic language of commodified feminism, owning her beauty, her sexuality, her power. “I don’t really like the word empowerment,” says Chiuri. “If we are to challenge patriarchy, women need to speak more about sisterhood and community. True feminism is about women supporting each other.”
A year after her debut at Dior, Chiuri opened her spring 2018 collection with another slogan T-shirt: “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”, the title of a seminal 1971 essay by the fashion historian feminist art Linda Lochlin, a copy of which was on every chair. This time, the words were printed not on a plain white crew neck, but on a Breton striped boat neck tee, underscoring the juxtaposition of the message against the backdrop of Paris Fashion Week, the motherland of French chic.
At this point, Chiuri has also started a policy that provides for the use of female photographers for all of Dior’s commercial projects. “People were shocked when I first said that I only wanted women to shoot for us. They said it wasn’t possible, that there aren’t that many female photographers. I said that’s not true. There are many. But when fashion houses want to shoot a campaign, they always call men because the male gaze is seen as the perspective that counts”.
The commitment of LVMH, owner of Dior, to increase female representation in key positions to 50% is 45% across the group and 50% at Dior. The company is committed to ensuring pay equity by 2025.