CRUISE COLLECTION 2020 - DIOR AND MOROCCO

 CRUISE COLLECTION 2020 - DIOR AND MOROCCO

Image COPYRIGHT: Nadine Ijewere for Dior

CRUISE COLLECTION 2020 - DIOR AND MOROCCO

A source of inspiration magnified by the Dior ateliers, the spirit of Morocco has marked the House’s history and accompanied its collections. Presented in Marrakesh, the 2020 Cruise show by Maria Grazia Chiuri pays fervent homage to the richness of traditional Moroccan cultures as well as to Dior’s heritage and savoir-faire. For Christian Dior, incorporating Morocco into his designs is a poetic, open and free geography that began with a chromatic homage.
The pureness of white, that “usual colour of light” as Isaac Newton put it – to lessen the sun’s impact – predominates in the Maroc ensemble, a dress and coat in white tulle embroidered in silver, from 1951. The year was not insignificant. It signalled the birth of a collaboration between the Maison Joste in Casablanca and Christian Dior. A unique experiment that would see styles sporting, until the 1970s, the dual label “Christian Dior – Joste – Exclusivité au Maroc” because they were made in Casablanca, after Christian Dior patterns designed in Paris.
Casablanca was also the name given to a day dress from 1954 on which the whiteness of the Surah silk contrasted with a constellation of small black squares. Perhaps it was worn by Lucky, Dior’s star fit model, during one of the many fashion shows in which she represented the House in Morocco? For several years, in fact, Lucky, “the ambassadress of elegance”, according to Christian Dior’s expression, would return wearing the House’s collections and thus contribute to this shared foundation, this steadfast bond between Dior and Morocco. This affinity would continue in 2004, at the Marrakesh International Film Festival, where several looks were unveiled at the prestigious Mamounia palace hotel.
In successive collections, the artistic directors who succeeded Christian Dior continued to recount this inspiring friendship, each in his or her own way: Gianfranco Ferré, with his ivory silk pantsuit called Rendez-vous à Casablanca, and John Galliano, through tulle bodysuits embroidered like henna tattoos. And, of course, we know the inexhaustible source of inspiration that North Africa, and Morocco in particular, would provide for Yves Saint Laurent, who became Christian Dior’s assistant in June 1955. The young couturier, who hailed from Oran, Algeria, in 1960 designed for Dior a look called Marrakech, a coat in ivory wool. A prescient creation, exceptionally exhibited for this 2020 Cruise collection alongside other designs by Yves Saint Laurent for Dior.
In presenting her collection in Marrakesh – a cultural capital filled with artistic, architectural and artisanal gems – and in incorporating the richness and transmission of an ancestral savoir-faire incarnated by the association Sumano, Maria Grazia Chiuri takes her place in this fascinating history of reciprocal interplays of light between Dior and the African continent, in all its plurality.

The Joste boutique in Casablanca
A unique collaboration in the House’s history was the one that linked the names Joste and Dior for more than twenty
years. Having moved to Casablanca in 1934, the couture house Joste in 1951 was entrusted with realizing styles based on
patterns designed by Christian Dior in Paris. Made in the Casablanca ateliers, they were then presented in Morocco as well as Algeria, Tunisia, Spain and Portugal, and would actively contribute to the House’s renown in the Mediterranean region. In 1953, Joste opened a boutique that sold outfits with the double label “Christian Dior – Joste – Exclusivité au Maroc”. In this welcoming and intimate environment, one could buy, just as at 30 Avenue Montaigne, a few colifichets or accessories such as stockings, scarves and Christian Dior perfumes. A unique experience and the symbolic link of a loyal friendship between Dior and Morocco, which would continue first with Yves Saint Laurent and then with Marc Bohan through the 1970s.

From Dior Blue to Majorelle blue
“When you choose a blue, pay attention to look at it both in daylight and under electric light, because it can appear very different,” Christian Dior advised. The colour of the queens and princesses of France, loved as much for its romantic poetry as for its melancholic tinges, in the couturier’s hands blue took on sapphire, glacier or stormy hues. In the autumn-winter 1952 haute couture collection, the star colour was a vibrant and magnetic blue called “Dior blue”, a chromatic companion to the already legendary “Dior red”. A captivating duality were Dior red and blue, especially when one knows that in colour history, these two shades would never stop vying for supremacy in the West. At the spring-summer 1956 haute couture collection, Dior Blue gave way to Mediterranean Blue. Was it the early influence of Yves Saint Laurent, who was hired as Christian Dior’s assistant in June 1955? Born in Oran, Algeria, the young designer, who succeeded Monsieur Dior upon his death, would find an inexhaustible source of inspiration in North Africa and Morocco; the famed Bleu Majorelle remains one of the most noteworthy examples.

YSL and Morocco
“On every street corner in Marrakesh, you encounter astonishingly vivid groups of men and women, which stand out in a blend of pink,
blue, green and purple caftans,” Yves Saint Laurent observed to the journalist and author Yvonne Baby. From his childhood in Oran to blissful vacations spent in Marrakesh in the old Art Deco-style villa that once belonged to the artist Jacques Majorelle and its extraordinary garden filled with plants from all over the world, Yves Saint Laurent would, through his creations, highlight the African continent and the Maghreb in particular. The shock of colour and the richness of embroideries would remain a tender and fervent homage to Moroccan culture for the designer, who passed away on June 1st 2008. That source of inspiration had already taken hold during his years at Christian Dior, where he started
as an assistant in 1955. The Marrakech coat he designed for the House in 1960 is being exhibited on the occasion of the 2020 Cruise show.

Lucky, Dior’s ambassador in Morocco
“We often call models ‘ambassadresses of elegance’, and their profession certainly takes them to the four corners of the globe,” Christian Dior wrote in his memoirs. The biggest globetrotter of all was no doubt Lucie Daouphars, best known as Lucky.
A Breton with salient cheekbones, the star of the Dior cabine, Lucky knew how to pose, and Christian Dior loved evoking her unrivalled sense of theatre. “She is fashion itself brought to life: she can make a comedy or a tragedy of a dress as she chooses.”
The House archives have preserved her passports. Stamped with a flurry of visas, they attest – as do photo albums showing Lucky wearing Dior in Casablanca – to the long cultural and artistic dialogue between Dior and Morocco.


COLLABORATIONS

Maria Grazia Chiuri imagined this collection like a map whose topography is filled with sentiments revealed through traditions, places, cultures and savoir-faire, recalling how techniques, gestures and images belong to a collective heritage. This cartography is enriched and animated by various creative collaborations that nourish Maria Grazia Chiuri’s project and enhance Dior’s codes like a multilingual artistic dialogue.

Pathé’O
Pathé Ouédraogo – aka Pathé’O – is one of Africa’s leading designers. Through his work, he supports fashion that is entirely Made in Africa. His pride in his roots, combined with Nelson Mandela’s wish to embody a strong and progressive African identity, gave rise to a kinship and mutual admiration. His emblematic shirts in bright colors and bold prints have become symbolic of the African continent and its cultural diversity. Maria Grazia Chiuri invited the designer to create an exclusive piece for the collection.

Grace Wales Bonner
The British-Jamaican designer Grace Wales Bonner, a graduate of Central Saint Martins, founded her eponymous label Wales Bonner* in 2014. Her work considers literature, history and cultural hybridity, and blurs the boundaries between ethnicity, gender and the representation of masculinity and identity. Through her collections rooted in menswear tailoring traditions, she seeks to redefine European notions of luxury through dialogues with Caribbean and African cultures. Following her award-winning graduate collection entitled Afrique, Wales Bonner participated in Fashion in Motion at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2015; in 2016 she received the LVMH Prize for young designers. Earlier this year Wales Bonner presented the exhibition A Time For New Dreams at London’s Serpentine Galleries, exploring spirituality, rituals and magic across the Black Atlantic. For the 2020 Cruise show, Maria Grazia Chiuri entrusted her with reinterpreting Christian Dior’s emblematic New Look silhouette. She took inspiration from Afro-Caribbean crochet and embroidery techniques to reinterpret the iconic look.
* www.walesbonner.net

Mickalene Thomas
The socially engaged African-American artist – painter, sculptor, photographer and filmmaker – Mickalene Thomas focuses her work on representations of femininity and beauty. She blends references to art history, notably Impressionism and Cubism, with those of pop culture and the Black American experience – an infinite dialogue between landscapes, portraiture and tableaus in a language woven through collage. Her notable portraits of personalities include Naomi Campbell, Michelle Obama, Jessica Chastain, Solange Knowles and Cardi B, in which she promotes diversity and pluralistic femininity while recontextualizing and examining the Western canon, codes and conventions. She refers to masterpieces of 19th-century art – like La Grande Odalisque by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia by Édouard Manet – and casts them in a new light through collages and paintings, disrupting by deconstructing both the composition of the image and its representation. Women of colour are drawn from the glamorous aesthetic of the late 1960s-1980s Black is Beautiful movement. In 2018, she also reinterpreted for Dior the iconic Lady Dior bag as a multicoloured patchwork of beads, thread and organza. Invited by Maria Grazia Chiuri to reinterpret the New Look silhouette – composed of a Bar jacket, a skirt and a hat – first designed by Christian Dior in 1947, Mickalene Thomas transposes her colourful patchworks into embroideries.

Anne Grosfilley
A doctor of anthropology, specialist in the textiles and fashions of Africa, and curator, Anne Grosfilley regularly participates in projects on an international scale. The winner of Oxfam’s Millennium Award in England (for her project focusing on discovering Africa through its textile heritage), she transmits her artistic and educational approach through projects with schools and universities. She has published, among other works, African Wax Print Textiles (Edisud, 2004), Textiles d’Afrique, entre tradition et modernité (Point de vues, 2006), Abécédaire du wax (Grandir, 2015), and Wax, 500 tissus (La Martinière, 2019). Her work Wax & co. Anthologie des tissus imprimés d'Afrique (La Martinière 2017) is an invitation to discover the little-known history of African prints. An impressive journey through textiles, in which the language of patterns takes on a new dimension. For the 2020 Cruise collection, Anne Grosfilley guided Maria Grazia Chiuri in her research into Wax, travelling with her through Abidjan. She also facilitated exchanges between the Artistic Director and Uniwax.

Uniwax
Founded in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Uniwax is one of the last factories to produce Wax fabrics in the traditional way, by mechanizing and preserving artisanal techniques. Highly appreciated culturally and very luxurious, the Wax wrap skirts that made its name celebrate major life milestones (birth, marriage, etc.) or accompany women in their everyday life.
The company is composed of a design studio and a factory. To this day, Uniwax is the only company capable of producing Wax that is 100% Made in Africa, offering exemplary traceability of its products. In fact, the raw material – cotton – is grown in Africa (in Mali, Ivory Coast and Benin) and transformed – spun and woven – in Benin. This raw ecru canvas is then bought by Uniwax and printed in Abidjan. The printing process is highly precise and requires about twenty steps, an unrivalled union of the artisans’ manual and creative talent. This fabric, which has no right side-up or inside out, proudly bears its irregularities, its “perfect imperfections” that attest to its uniqueness. The ethical commitment and social conscience of its CEO, Jean-Louis Menudier – who has run the company for thirty years – are steadfast (salary scales approximating those of Morocco, loans, health care). The ecological dimension is also a top priority. High-end through the manufacturing process and its durability, its production is exported to more than a dozen countries in West and Central Africa. Uniwax is therefore a veritable economic lever in Ivory Coast. In 1987, Uniwax launched a competition called Ciseaux d’Or (Golden Scissors), which encouraged stylists to reinterpret and reclaim Wax. The winner of the first edition was none other than the emblematic couturier Pathé’O, whom Maria Grazia Chiuri invited to collaborate with the House for the 2020 Cruise collection. A collection that deliberately mixes and expands geographical references to follow but one path: that of freedom.

Wax: The melting-pot fabric
One of the starting points for the 2020 Cruise collection is Wax fabric, a textile historically born in Asia, made in Europe and sold in Africa – a fabric that celebrates the plurality and cultural diversity of a continent rich with fifty-four countries. Dior is the first luxury House to develop a collection around 100