Dior Cruise Collection: When Couture Meets Culture

Dior is a well-know luxurious fashion brand that has been successful for years. The fashion house was originally created by the French designer Christian Dior, in 1946. Nowadays, the Dior brand designs luxury goods from fashion accessories, jewelry, footwear to skin fragrances. For their 2020 Dior Cruise Collection, which occurred on April 29th, Dior flew to one of the most stunning and vibrant locations in the world: Marrakesh. The location was also an homage to the successor of Christian Dior, Yves Saint-Laurent, and his past love for the dazzling city.

This year, the Dior Cruise Collection was held in a historic palace from the 16th century in Marrakesh, El Badi Palace. Flowing maroon gowns and beaded dresses models with bandanas were seen gliding on the runway. The catwalk was filled with floating candles on pools and the atmosphere looked magical. But Marrakesh wasn’t only the location for the runaway, the city was also a source of inspiration for the Dior Cruise Collection. Various Moroccan artists helped in creating the collection. The theme was ‘’Common ground’’ and consisted of many collaborations with African artists from different cultures and backgrounds who all worked together for this project. An anthropologist specialized in African textiles also consulted on the entire collection.

But what was the exact purpose of this collection? The Italian artistic director, Ms. Maria Grazia Chiuri wanted to demonstrate that "couture" can also be about culture. Empowering female artists was also a very important mission for the artistic director, Ms. Chiuri. She decided to make a very important collaboration with Sumano, an association of 50 Moroccan women artisans who value traditional women craftsmanship. Together, they created different items for the runaway. Indeed, they made painted ceramic plates, artisanal cushions that were used for the runaway show attendees, a wool coat sewed and painted by hand. The wool coat was chosen for the opening of the runaway. It was a beautiful piece adorned by a vegetal henna dye. As mentioned, the cushions were also part of their creations. For the event, the Sumano association made 300 wool cushions that were adorned with Berber patterns. The result was spectacular.

Dior wanted to promote ancestral practices and offer great visibility to these original pieces. The Sumano artisans were very emotional and proud to see their creations in the spotlight. It made them realize even more the importance of their work and heritage.

Through the many collaborations in the Dior Cruise Collection, Ms. Chiuri wanted to appreciate and celebrate the African ‘’savoir-faire’’. .