The atelier – where head and hands work in concert – is both an instrument and a place of experimentation, constantly renewing the magical and scientific language that is haute couture. With Dior Spring Summer 2022 haute couture collection, Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri honors human relationships with handmade objects. Expressing a desire to abolish the boundaries between art and craft once and for all, the collection sheds light on atelier’s original excellence – embroidery is not just a decorative detail in this collection.
HAUTE COUTURE
The body is thus a vector for breathing life into avant-garde projects. Embroidery becomes a three-dimensional conceptual act that reinvents the atelier’s techniques and elemental excellence; it progresses through a choreography of movements and is not merely a decorative detail. It gives fabric its structure, its architecture. The embroidery, which stands out from – and interacts with – the material, rendering it evanescent and prompting an interplay with the surrounding air, as seen in the contrasting of a long, all-over embroidered ecru skirt with a sheer silk organza shirt. The tights, a signature of the collection, also derive their spectacular dimension from embroidery to establish a lively dialogue with different pieces, from a grisaille-bedecked grey suit to evening dresses that marry the finesse of embroidery with the lightness of tulle, through a series of draped leotards. Here is Maria Grazia Chiuri reasserting the syntax and grammar of the atelier, the purity of lines fundamentally celebrating the very role, the essence of couture: to dress the body. Elsewhere, cashmere coats embrace the silhouette and sleek capes in resplendent white conceal jacket-and-pant ensembles. Pleated skirts billow under structured coats, while the silver lamé jacquard fabrics of dresses highlight each movement of the body. These embroidered patterns, through which Dior’s heritage is reinterpreted, become the central element, and, following the rules of couture, are transformed by a vision that makes the atelier a collaborative mode of expression, where haute couture is a form of constant experimentation and questioning. – from Dior.
With this collection Maria Grazia Chiuri sheds light on her creative dialogue with India, through the one of a kind collaborations with contemporary Indian artist coupleMadhvi and Manu Parekh, the Chanakya Atelier and the Chanakya School of Craft. The tights, a signature of the collection, derive their spectacular dimension from embroidery to establish a lively dialogue with different pieces. These singular silhouettes are revealed in a decor punctuated by unique works of Indian artists. An inspiring creative dialogue, collective, exalting virtuoso skills, where embroidery is transformed into a collaborative mode of expression, at the crossroads of art and craft.
