For Dior’s latest Paris Couture Week collection Maria Grazia Chiuri paid tribute to the upcoming Olympic Games set to take place in the city this summer, manifested through a Feminist lens.
As the notes which accompanied the show explained “The Dior haute couture autumn-winter 2024-2025 line comes to life against a backdrop of hard-won political freedom for women’s bodies.”
The house described the Games as “the sacred embodiment of competition,” and described the latest collection as “pay a fitting tribute to all athletes who, from antiquity to the present day, have overcome prejudice and obstacles to ensure a level playing field in sports contests.”
In the collection, there were silk dresses magnified by embroidery, transparent metallic tank tops edged in satin, and ensembles where the skirt revealed a pair of pants at each step.
The silhouettes throughout the collection reflect the power – both experimental and reflexive – of couture, its virtuosity in rethinking the allure, the elegance of a woman at once delicate and strong.
Alongside the collection, Chiuri showcased the works of the late great artist Faith Ringgold, who passed away earlier this year.
Much of Ringgold’s body of work portrayed African-American women and for the show, Dior’s creative director chose to showcase the house’s latest collection within a structure covered with the reproductions of Ringgold’s 1971 work, “Woman Freedom Now,” a political work used at demonstrations for pro-Black and pro women’s rights protests during the era.
Atop the notes accompanying the collection, Chiuri reiterated a message of female strength, through a key quote from Ringgold – “You can’t sit around and wait for somebody to say who you are. You need to write it and paint it and do it.”
