Maria Grazia Chiuri explores feminist rebels for spring/summer 2024
This season, we are breaking down the spring/summer 2024 collections with a new franchise, The Fashion Week Cheat Sheet. After speaking to the designers about their inspiration, their hero pieces, the faces on the catwalk and the names on the front row, we present everything you need to know about SS24.
For spring/summer 2024, Maria Grazia Chiuri considered the present in the sense that the past and future must co-exist simultaneously. Through this, the designer looked at the relationship between fashion and feminism, and explored the many rebels who have asserted their independence in the face of a masculine world. This includes: "witches, custodians of the knowledge of the mother-goddess, who pass on the science of plants and respect the time of nature". There was inspiration from the Middle Ages, and typical nods to witchcraft, but interpreted in an abstract way.
Below, discover more about Dior’s SS24 collection, from the catwalk to the front row.
Theme and inspiration
“This collection restores the idea that the body/clothing relationship is set in the context of the times and not in the time of one day or nostalgia,” said the house in its show notes of a collection which explored the history of feminism and its relationship to fashion. “Fashion has, more than ever, a responsibility to help women realise their worth and express their differences.”
Through this, Grazia Chiuri looked to witches as inspiration – as an example of one of these feminist rebels – which came across in a heavily monochromatic colour palette. There were black lace gowns, metallic knitwear, gothic make-up, bewitching accessories and prints and embroideries which were inspired by phases of the moon, suns announcing the seasons, medicinal herbs and fantastical animals.
Setting
As is often the case with Dior collections, the designer collaborated with an artist on the show space. This time, it was the immersive NOT HER art piece, by Elena Bellantoni which formed the mood of the show. There was a video installation which occupied all the walls of the show’s scenography, which used the analog split-flap device. Through it, there was a succession of female figures (including the artist herself) reworked by Bellantoni, in a pop spirit, using imagery from sexist adverts and counterpoint phrases to respond to the dominant stereotype: "It’s not her, she’s no longer all that".
Hero products
“Knitwear plays a tremendous role: it accompanies and caresses the curves of the body, enveloping without constricting, it is warm, sexy. A very light, metallic sweater alludes to chainmail.”
Who was there?
It was a star-studded affair. Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Jenna Ortega, Anya Taylor-Joy and Elizabeth Debicki were among the names to sit on the front row.
For more on the spring/summer 2024 collections, head this way.
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