Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri sharpens millennial edge in her spring/summer collection at Paris Fashion Week

Sep 27 , 2017

Models present creations for Christian Dior during the women's 2018 spring/summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris. Photo: AFP

Collection is filled with whimsical motifs rendered in a rainbow of candy hues from bubblegum pink to bumblebee yellow that deliver a slingshot at millennial customers without straying from maison’s heritage and luxurious roots

Dior’s first female artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiurikeeps matters of feminism and femininity close to her heart. Following success in the past couple of seasons, the Rome fashion veteran continued to explore the theme for the spring-summer 2018 collection yesterday at Musée Rodin in Paris.

The result is a collection filled with whimsical motifs rendered in a rainbow of candy hues from bubblegum pink to bumblebee yellow. Although the collection delivered a slingshot at millennial generation customers, it didn’t stray from the historic maison’s rich heritage and luxurious roots.

Whimsical motifs were rendered in a rainbow of candy hues from bubblegum pink to bumblebee yellow. Photo: AFP

This season, Chiuri approached the theme with a question – “Why have there not been great women artists” – the same one posed by American feminist historian Linda Nochlin’s 1971 essay which was handed out to guests at the show to illustrate Chiuri’s intentions to celebrate women “who break the mould of the traditionally male discourse in art history, and in fashion.”

Artist Niki de Saint Phalle – a close friend of former Dior creative chief Marc Bohan, was one such female pioneer whose photographs were kept in Dior’s archives. Her style that’s “both iconic and personal” was the starting point for Chiuri’s new designs for the spring-summer 2018 collection.

Artist Niki de Saint Phalle’s bold paint strokes inspired the exuberant palette we saw at Dior’s new collection. Photo: AFP

De Saint Phalle’s bold paint strokes inspired the exuberantly colourful palette we saw at Dior’s new collection which was a refreshing sight following the all-blue autumn-winter 2017 collection.

Watch: Dior goes blue for Paris Fashion Week AW17: