Yahoo Finance Dior unveils fairytale-inspired autumn 2021 collection
Maria Grazia Chiuri unveiled a Dior autumn/ winter 2021 collection today inspired by the world of fairy tales.
Filmed in the Palace of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, the digital runway spectacle was full of frothy frocks and layered tulle gowns fit for a princess.
The signature Bar jacket was reworked in the House’s signature Cannage motif, while elsewhere a red hooded cape looked ready to run from the Big Bad Wolf.
Elsewhere a sense of a childhood innocence was conveyed via prim schoolgirl-like white collars, satin headbands, black broderie anglaise pinafores, and white knee-length socks.
“Fairy tales let you dream of being a different character, and in many ways fashion is the same,” said Maria Grazia Chiuri on a Zoom post-show. “However the show is not just about escapism. Fairytales are written to educate young kids on what it means to be moral, to be adult. We wanted to interrogate the concept of a fairy tale from our point of view.”
That the show took place on International Women’s Day was in fact a happy coincidence after its scheduled date had to change following technical issues. “I am very happy that when we decide to move that we were given this show time,” said Chiuri. “Its important to think of women in this moment. In Covid times it’s hard for everybody but women particularly. There are many difficult affects for women who work and have children at home too.”
Chiuri shared the project with several women artists. The show was teased on social media using specially commissioned work from five female illustrators, each of whom had interpreted their definition of femininity through the work.
For the show itself, artist Silvia Giambrone transformed the mirrors lining the great hall with an installation entitled Hall of Shadows that covered them in wax and prickly spines. The idea, said Chiuri, was to send a message to young girls: “If you want to be something then you ought not to see yourself in the mirror, because then you will see what others want you to be not who you are.”
Dior’s fairy tale comes with a thoroughly modern message.
