(Paris) After dressing Queen Camilla for the state dinner at Versailles, Dior tackles stereotypical and sexist representations of women in a powerful feminist show Tuesday in Paris, the second day of Fashion Week.
The architectural silhouettes create a link between the queen’s majestic midnight blue silk dress and several tailoring pieces designed by the artistic director of the women’s lines, Maria Grazia Chiuri.
“I’m very happy to have had this chance. These are historic moments,” the Italian stylist, put in the spotlight on the occasion of Camilla’s choice for the gala dinner, told AFP.
For the ready-to-wear collection, produced by a different team, “we started with the idea of the world of witches, but above all the stereotypes that accompany them from our childhood or the stereotypical images of the Parisian,” underlines -she. “These stories influence how we see ourselves.”
In front of an audience of stars, including actresses Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence and Camille Cottin, influencer Léna Situations and actor Robert Pattinson, the parade takes place in a video installation denouncing macho visual and verbal rhetoric and stereotypes of “housewife,” “object woman,” or “doll woman.”
Designed by Italian artist Elena Bellantoni and named “Not her”, the decor is fluorescent yellow and fuchsia, the colors of highlighters.
It takes 300 “sexist” images from advertising dating from the 1940s to the present day and seeks to “reverse the mirrors and change the rules,” the artist explains to AFP.
The models’ sober colored outfits contrast with this setting.
One of the key motifs of the collection is the evanescent Eiffel Tower taken from a photograph by Brigitte Niedermair: proof for Maria Grazia Chiuri that an artist’s eye can transform a symbol “so famous and international” by removing its rigid side.
This principle also applies to the line which softens: the emblematic silhouette of Dior New look, “hard and sculptural” with a corolla skirt and a fitted bar jacket, is not the only one invented by the house, underlines the creative.
His Parisienne is thus entitled to almost masculine straight jackets, pleated skirts and other comfortable, light outfits suitable for all seasons.
Knitwear plays a key role: it wraps without tightening, warm and sexy.
Sensuality intrudes into the formal wardrobe: the shirts are asymmetrical, leaving one shoulder bare.
Several long dresses with a pure line are transparent.
These liberated women wear sometimes military boots, sometimes pumps with straps reaching up to the knee and decorated with pearls and small heels.
The world of witches brings a dark, mysterious and powerful palette.
The mille-fleurs pattern, characteristic of Dior, transforms into a contrasting floral x-ray in white and black. The phases of the moon, the sun, medicinal herbs, fantastic animals appear on fabrics and in embroidery.
Some pieces appear burnt, others are torn or frayed, the artistic damage becoming a constituent element of the garment and giving it a rock touch.
“I liked to tell this idea of evanescence through fabrics,” emphasizes the designer.
