The French brand lands in Latin America to rediscover traditions and urges through the evocation of the figure of Frida Kahlo
Dior Cruise 2024: the feminist message
In each of the Cruises presented with the Dior brand, Maria Grazia Chiuri attempted to capture the essence of a place by choosing specific settings from which to start. The Colegio de San Ildefonso represented just one of the key points to conceive and build this collection dedicated to the figure of Frida Kahlo and, more broadly, to female affirmation.
Based on the common clothes of this multifaceted character who made her body a symbol of protest and art, the collection parades in the very College where Frida Kahlo studied and met her partner in an eternal and tormented love affair, Diego Rivera. Christian Dior had already established ties with these places in the past, through the creation of traditionally inspired dresses and fashion shows featuring Latin American settings.
«Dior has a long association with Mexico, having first held a show there in 1958, to present an haute couture collection designed during Yves Saint Laurent’s tenure at the House», states the brand. Maria Grazia Chiuri symbolically rediscovers Mexico, which for her represents «a constellation of places that arouse emotions».
Frida Kahlo: inspiration and connection to Mexico
A free love, a sweet love, an honest love, a healthy love, these are the background words on which the first models enter in a context that vibrates with feminist assertion. Beginning with Frida Kahlo herself, who expressed her positions and protests through her clothes.
The pieces designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri are reminiscent in shape of those of the artist: wide, flared skirts, as well as soft, flowing dresses embellished with lace. Black and white alternate on creations that in the traditionalist manage to enhance the female body by creating transparencies through the various embroideries.
Wide volumes in shirts and skirts are contrasted with dresses that glide over the silhouettes hugging the figure of the woman paired with Mexican red boots, reminiscent of the symbol of the fight against gender violence. The superimposition of jackets, minute vests or shirt fabric, capes, to pants, skirts or dresses is borrowed from the style of Frida Kahlo.
This meets traditional taste and shapes, such as ruffles at the bottom of the skirt, or that of the Dior brand, creating celebratory or unusual combinations. «The internationally renowned Mexican artist transcended life-altering disabilities through her distinctive clothing, which became a tool for representation, proclamation, protest and affirmation», the maison points out.
The centrality of the butterfly figure in Dior Cruise 2024
Central to Maria Grazia Chiuri’s work for this collection is the image, especially in its metaphorical meaning, of the butterfly. Embroidered and taken in different forms on the dresses and through the jewelry that adorned the garments, the butterfly is also evoked in its journey from cocoon to birth, through the silhouettes of the designed pieces.
Exploring the symbol of metamorphosis that between prints and embroideries rests through different modalities on the pieces are precisely the dresses that for Frida Kahlo represented both the protective cocoon and rebirth.
«Kahlo’s mixing of western and indigenous costume is reflected in the collection’s championing of the savoir-faire of local artisans, shining through in original embroideries and textiles», the brand highlights. In addition to the butterfly, a series of motifs found in the artist’s drawings are reinterpreted and placed on the pieces of the collection, from flora to fauna to the reproduction of some of the garments with which she herself had painted her own.
Mexico roots: the significance of embroidery
This fashion show screams Mexico in every detail, from the soundtrack featuring an all-female mariachi band to the casting of models, many of whom are also reminiscent through styling of the very artist iconic for her style.
Also relevant is the collaboration that Chiuri, as in others of the Cruise devised, establishes with local artisans in cross-production through traditional regional processes and techniques. In Mexico she chose artisans who worked in particular on original embroidery and more, a co-creation with native ateliers stands out notably. In fact, in the finale the capsule A corazón abierto parades in a performance by indigenous feminist artist Elina Chauvet.
The dresses presented on this occasion are white and echo the shape of the aprons in the skirts, made by local artisans, they bring back a series of meaningful embroideries. Embroidered hearts, the words Viva mi vida, Hope, Yo soy mia, the image of a woman sewing, an army of women in white gather in the garden square to close the show.
«Much like Kahlo, Maria Grazia Chiuri has called on the talents of craftspeople from different regions to convey the diversity of techniques and styles possessed by the distinct mix of cultures», Dior brand concludes.
