Paris Fashion Week: Take a look at the politically charged Dior FW18 fashion show

Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri's latest offering is inspired by student anarchy and systemic injustice.

This May, France will mark the 50th anniversary of the Paris student protests of 1968. Maria Grazia Chiuri recently saw an exhibition about the events of that year in Rome, and she said it made her wonder what the house of Dior was doing at the time. The result was a politically charged Dior collection for their FW18 show.

A little digging revealed a rather fabulous discovery: a black-and-white photograph of chic young women protesting outside the Dior store because there were not enough miniskirts inside. In fact, change was happening everywhere that year, including inside Dior. It was around 1968 when Marc Bohan launched Miss Dior, the house’s first ready-to-wear line; before that, Dior offered only made-to-measure haute couture clothing. “Fashion understood very well the time,” Chiuri reflected backstage.

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Chiuri was then inspired by the clothes of the late ’60s including the crochets, the embroideries, the patchworks and put the luxury Dior spin on them. The patchworks, for instance, were pieced from reproductions of archival Dior prints. There were also school uniform jackets and kilts and the overall charm of the collection was in its luxurious craftiness, a juxtaposition but one that worked nevertheless. The handbags, were embroidered and patchworked, featuring familiar CD hardware.

The result was a fashion collection that was a delicate mix of clothes and an important message. For a long time, it was said that fashion and politics were worlds apart but Dior proves that the two can go hand in hand and any medium is a viable method of expression and can be a platform for an important cause.

 

 

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