It was announced earlier today that Maria Grazia Chiuri, who since 2016 held the position of creative director at Dior, will be stepping down following her cruise and couture collection show held at the Villa Albani Torlonia in Rome. To discuss the designer’s legacy at the maison, Nicole Phelps is joined by Vogue’s Fashion News Director Mark Holgate, and Vogue’s chief critic Sarah Mower. Mower recalled her initial impressions of the designer, “She was just so keen to learn and to explore and expand what Dior is and I think she really held on strong to that. She started off with the fencing look, do you remember that? She said the message was that there’s not one kind of woman. That’s a really feminist point of view; that she wasn’t designing just for a stereotype. I think she relaxed Dior.”
Nine years and almost 30 collections later, it seems her legacy is rooted in her passion for history, discovery, and craft. “She exalted the manufacturing of textiles or artisanal work done locally, be it in Scotland, or Mexico, or Greece, or wherever, and put it on a pedestal at the same height as couture in France,” explained Holgate. “She really wanted to embrace the beauty of making, and very often, the beauty of making by communities of women around the world.” Listen to their conversation below.
