Since her appointment at the hallowed luxury house of Christian Dior, Maria Grazia Chiuri has been catalysing a litany of socio-cultural dialogues on fierce femininity empowering women with her inimitable cerebral chic while combining plural influences. Staying true to her mission to offer clever sartorial solutions while keeping the soul of Dior intact, Chiuri yet again sublimated Dior’s SS 25 collection with the assertive power of contemporary femininity. In this tactile and timeless outing, she explored and expounded the deeper symbolism of the garment.
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Diana – the Greco-Roman goddess of hunting embodying strength and resilience was on her mind. Making the classic Roman toga dress of the moment, she superimposed the one should drape and mantle with evocative insignias from the Dior Archive. An Amazone dress envisioned by Christian Dior for autumn-winter 1951-1952, was a key reference point. Moreover, subtle nods to Dior’s visions of his mother’s equestrian dressing – riding separates and boots made their presence felt.
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Alchemising Archery With Agility
Forging artistic alliances with powerful female artists from different parts of the world isn’t new for Chiuri and this season, she revealed at the heart of a beguiling and soul-searing installation, an art project specially conceived and conceptualised by SAGG Napoli – a multidisciplinary artist working with performance, video, sculpture and installation. Sportified femininity has been central to the Dior universe and Chiuri reimagined it with a contemporary lens in bodysuits, cinched-at-the-waist Bar jackets and lace-up boots.
The Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, may have emphasised gender equality, inclusivity and respect. Still, Chiuri has been championing all these values since her Spring Summer 17 collection, which was a haute homage to female fencers. For the Dior SS 25 showcase, she asked SAGG Napoli to perform in the catwalk space. “May the building of a strong mind and a strong body be the greatest work I have ever made” was one of the symbolic phrases on the set.
A modern Amazon, SAGG Napoli sees fashion as a visual attribute that affirms her athletic shape. She tackles one of the oldest disciplines – archery – which demands the harmonisation of body and mind. Her work uses several narrative devices to examine a socio-political knot: that of the European South, its historical traces and geo-political entanglements. Placing the body within a specific time and context, she reflects on notions of productivity, self-control and achievement.
Installation Steeped In Symbolism
“Con il cuore in una mano e l’arco nell’altra” (“With my heart in one hand and a bow in the other”), is an installation and performance conceived by SAGG Napoli for the scenography of the Dior Spring-Summer 2025 Ready-To-Wear show. It consists of a grouping of texts built into and onto a 70-meter metal and glass structure, in which the artist will engage in a session of archery, a sport which the artist took up in 2020, and is now regularly training and competing in on a national level. For SAGG Napoli, the bow and the practice of archery have become integral to her life and work.
Precision, absolute focus and a developed physical musicality have emerged, and are now predominant in her life and practice. ‘To have patience means to trust a process and set intentions and goals, to move towards each one of them, slowly allowing the technical movements to sync with your muscles and your mind. When you miss the target, you have to understand why you missed (often it’s not only technical factors to do with your equipment, but instead can be your body position and your mind), to learn to accept that things break and you don’t always have to fix them.’
