Fashion girl power
For AW19, the “corset” had been remade as a wide leather belt with elasticated panels, while the little fitted tops of Fifties debutantes were remade as black sweaters and adorned with a knitted bow.
And the sequin fairy skirts are more ethereal as well. The Bar jacket, with its sculptural peplum waist has been made less stiff and formal. Heavy wool skirts are now lighter and more fluid, and she has replaced stiff organzas with cotton. If Chiuri has created a design signature at Dior it has been in making the house favourites work for the modern day. The Teddy Girl duster coats, tartan skirts and patent jackets in her AW19 show, may have taken their cue from an underground movement adopted by the British working classes, but the real thrust of this collection was in Chiuri’s reimagining of the circle skirts, bar jackets and dove grey tailoring designed by the brand’s founder during that same period. But other exhibition rooms, dedicated to broader themes at the house - the garden, the showstopper, the princess gown - had helped Chiuri identify its codes. Seeing the work of individual designers - among them John Galliano, Raf Simons and Yves Saint Laurent - showcased at the V&A had only emphasised their differences. It’s a house which has had very different designers and each has brought a very different style.” “But sometimes it’s less clear what exactly the Dior brand might be.
“Dior is a more corporate brand than many,” she said of the LVMH-owned company shortly before the show. This season she had been inspired by one the UK’s ancient subcultures - the Teddy Girls of the Fifties - whom she has come to know through visiting the city, where she now has a flat.īut she had also used the exhibition, and its staging, as an opportunity to reflect on Dior as a brand, and on the culture at the house. Working on the Dior exhibition, newly opened at the V&A and already sold out, has proven fertile ground for the brand’s director of womenswear Maria Grazia Chiuri.