Dioriviera Cruise 2020 Collection Update Pops-Up in Cortina d'Ampezzo

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Dior's Cruise 2020 Popup in Cortina d'Ampezzo with Luxury Retailer Franz Kraler

Dior leaves seaside resorts behind, heading to Cortina d’Ampezzo launching a pop-up collab with Italian luxury retailer Franz Kraler. The focus is Dior’s Dioriviera Cruise 2020 Collection with an update. Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri adds a range of bright colors and bold graphics to her blue mood cruise collection inspired by North Africa.

Models Adesuwa Aighewi, Jiali Zhao and Ruth Bell bring the capsule to life, showcasing four new colors including green, fuchsia, yellow and orange. Photographer Nadine Ijewere captures the trio in the final weeks before Cortina and the sunny beaches of St. Bart’s.

Cara Delevingne, Rebellious Brit, Fronts Dior Joaillerie's Rose des Vents Collection

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Top talent, actor, model and activist Cara Delevingne is now the face of Dior Joaillerie, starting with the brand’s Rose des Vents campaign. The Brit has modeled for the Dior brand before and is currently the face of its Addict Stellar Shine lipstick, but this is her first jewelry campaign.

Cara Delevingne for Dior’s Joaillerie Rose des Vents collection.

Describing Cara as “a rebellious English rose”, the announcement continues: ““Much more than a muse, the audacious icon is an endless source of inspiration. For Dior, Cara Delevingne upends the conventional jewellery codes with her characteristic whimsy.”

The Joaillerie's Rose des Vents collection is inspired by Christian Dior’s favorite flower, the rose, and his global travels. The importance of flowers in our lives was also celebrated by Maria Grazia Chiuri’s recent spring 2020 runway show for the luxury house.

In another of Chiuri’s deep-dives into the history of Christian Dior, the creative director was deeply inspired by Christian Dior’s sister Catherine, an active member of the French resistance. The bold, audacious ‘Miss’ in Miss Dior was captured by the French resistance and sent to Ravensbrück, an all-female concentration camp in northern Germany.

Catherine Dior, imprisoned French resistance activist and lover of flowers.

Catherine survived, returning to Paris where she sold her beloved flowers at Les Halles market, where she was the ONLY woman granted a license to trade as a ‘cut flowers broker’. Miss Dior became an acclaimed gardener, botanist and house consultant on flowers.

Catherine Dior’s love for blooms and nature also supported Chiuri’s commitment to the environment at her spring 2020 show. One of her noteworthy initiatives was working with the Paris-based environmental design collective Coloco, which will replant the “show trees” in projects around the city.

Christian Dior SS20 show Paris, Sept. 2019

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Cara Delevingne

Ruth Bell + Selena Forrest Channel Teddy Girls In Brigitte Niedermair Images For Dior Fall 2019 Campaign

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Ruth Bell + Selena Forrest Channel Teddy Girls In Brigitte Niedermair Images For Dior Fall 2019 Campaign

Maria Grazia Chiuri’s feminist message for Christian Dior marches forward into fall celebrating the 1950s Teddy Girls rebellious spirit British subculture. The Teddy Girls more androgynous style represented a turning away from the elegantly feminine New Look from Dior, a style that directed women back home after their much-needed working women stint during WWII.

Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri + Eleonora Abbagnato's Ballet Costumes For 'Nuit Blanche'

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Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri + Eleonora Abbagnato's Ballet Costumes For 'Nuit Blanche'

Synergies between the worlds of fashion and ballet are intense, with Dior Creative Director of Dior Women Maria Grazia Chiuri crediting dance as a major source of inspiration for her designs. In collaboration with Eleonora Abbagnato—the Director of Ballet at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and an toile at the Opéra National in Paris—Chiuri’s creations are on stage in Rome from March 29 - April 2.

Her stunning collection of costumes for ‘Nuit Blanche’ a ballet in a series of three dances with choreography by Sébastien Bertaud is performed as an ode to composer and musician Philip Glass. Chiuri’s costumes for Abbagnato, principal guest dancer Friedmann Vogel and 16 dancers present a more contemporary examination of concepts of masculinity and femininity. Both genders are dressed in light and delicate, but highly-functional, materials.

Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri + Eleonora Abbagnato's Ballet Costumes For 'Nuit' Blanche'

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Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri + Eleonora Abbagnato's Ballet Costumes For 'Nuit' Blanche'

Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri + Eleonora Abbagnato's Ballet Costumes For 'Nuit' Blanche'

Synergies between the worlds of fashion and ballet are intense, with Dior Creative Director of Dior Women Maria Grazia Chiuri crediting dance as a major source of inspiration for her designs. In collaboration with Eleonora Abbagnato—the Director of Ballet at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and an toile at the Opéra National in Paris—Chiuri’s creations are on stage in Rome from March 29 - April 2.

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Ruth Bell + Selena Forrest Front Dior's Spring/Summer 2019 Ad Campaign, Lensed By Harley Weir

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Models Ruth Bell and Selena Forrest join forces with professional dancers in Dior’s Spring/Summer 2019 ad campaign, lensed by Harley Weir. Continuing the theme of dance, beauty and the female form as expressed in Dior’s spring runway show, the cast reference ethereal fabrics body suits, dresses and open-knit ensembles. Dior’s Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri speaks to the campaign, saying: ''My work is related to the celebration of the body through clothing and the opportunity it offers us in how we represent ourselves in the eyes of others as well as in our own eyes.''

Eye: Dior Lady Art #3 Is 11 Women Artists Worldwide, Inspiring 2019 AOC Study of Their Extreme Talent

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Dior Lady Art #3 Is 11 Women Artists Worldwide, Inspiring 2019 AOC Study of Their Extreme Talent

Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri launched her third Dior Lady Art project in early December 2018, at Miami’s Art Basel. For the first time, this third edition of the maison’s creative initiative, Dior Lady Art, is comprised of an all-woman cast of 11 artists transforming the classic Lady bag into works of art, The bags will now launch in January 2019 in expanded artistry by the same women at select Dior outlets worldwide. (See prior Dior Lady Art projects here. )

Earlier this week, Vogue.com profiled Danish jeweler and ceramist Jo Riis-Hansen, and her words got my attention. “I think the world is so fast,” says Riis-Hansen from her hometown, as her children, 10 and 6, play in the background. “I love fashion, I do, but it’s so fast. I think jewelry needs to slow down a bit, too. [When you buy a piece of jewelry] I think it’s important to [ask]: Where does it come from? Who is this person that made it? Did someone actually put real human or spiritual energy it? That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy the fast-fashion [stuff], I’m just pursuing another way of making jewelry, one that [fulfills] a personal need for me, to be able to put all these emotions into [my work].”

In our fast-paced, digital and often disposable world, we rarely understand the answers to Riis-Hansen’s questions. Yet, it’s well known that younger people, in particular, are very focused on these questions about the projects they are buying into.

It’s my intention to answer these questions around my own GlamTribal Design Collection. But after installing this rather laborious entry around Dior Lady Art handbags, it occurs to me that we have a wonderful foundation from which to explore these women artists — their work, their philosophies around art, life, politics and all related topics. We can track their exhibitions and their communities, the experiences that have informed their artistic visions in an ongoing project throughout 2019.

As opposed to this post being just another fashionable data bit in the glut of information on the Internet, we will slow down a bit and really understand the women artists who were chosen by Dior Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri to represent this great luxury brand in its third Dior Lady Art initiative.

Jennifer Lawrence Fronts Dior Cruise 2019 Horsewomen Looks Lensed By Viviane Sassen

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Jennifer Lawrence Fronts Dior Cruise 2019 Horsewomen Looks Lensed By Viviane Sassen

Star actor Jennifer Lawrence showcases Maria Grazia Chiuri’s equestrian cruise 2018 collection for Dior. Photographer Viviane Sassen is behind the lens, as Dior sets the scene:

“In a barren landscape, where the architectural lines of concrete walls are warmed by the colors of the desert, Jennifer Lawrence is the embodiment of liberated femininity, dressed in cruise 2019. Inspired by the escaramuzas, the Creative Director of the House, Maria Grazia Chiuri, designed feminine silhouettes whose dresses and petticoats embellished with traditional embroidery evoke the gracious and powerful discipline of these Mexican horsewomen. Toile de Jouy, modernized with a series of wild animals, also plays a key role in the collection. Its motifs appear on coats, skirts and the Dior Book Tote bag. To complete this equestrian look, the Saddle bag with its iconic curves is reinvented in patchwork or Dior Oblique canvas.“

Eye on Dior: Jennifer Lawrence in Dior's Pre-Fall 2018 Campaign | Bernard Arnault Now Richest Man In Europe

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Eye on Dior: Jennifer Lawrence in Dior's Pre-Fall 2018 Campaign | Bernard Arnault Now Richest Man In Europe

Jennifer Lawrence continues her Dior love affair, appearing as the face of Dior's pre-fall 2018 campaign. Lawrence poses in relaxed, tailored looks designed by Maria Grazia Chuiri, Dior's creative director. 

More Maria Grazia Chiuri on Feminism

Since her appointment as the first female artistic director of Christian Dior in July 2016, Maria Grazia Chiuri has been writing a new chapter in the storied house's history, using feminism and female empowerment as a platform for her own political ends.  “When I arrived, I decided to think about femininity in a way that is contemporary,” she says. “The women are different now.”

Simply stated, the Dior brand must extend far beyond cocktail dresses. And in an epic leap taken by very few luxury brands, Chiuri brings moral messaging into the topic of brand desirability. 

Eye: Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri 2018 Mood Is #RESIST As Feminism Digs Deeper Roots In The World's Most Valuable Apparel Company

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Eye: Dior's Maria Grazia Chiuri 2018 Mood Is #RESIST As Feminism Digs Deeper Roots In The World's Most Valuable Apparel Company

CR blog spoke to designer friends about mood and intention in 2018.  Maria Grazia Chiuri weighed in: ""My motto for 2018 is that of American artist Marilyn Minter: Resist. Because we should defend our ideas, stand our ground, and never back down. We should always be brave. All of the work that we have done to be brave enough to face reality and try to change it, the campaigning for equality and for equal rights and responsibilities, too, are part of a long-term project. Now is the time to resist and try to build something new and extraordinary."

Watching for the first time Chiuri's Dior Couture Fall 2017 video, I sense the mood of the designer's forward women's march in a collection honoring Dior's cosmopolitan, globetrotting roots. Gone are the Roger Vivier spindly heels, replaced by men's brogues and manly ankle boots. 

'The Crown's' mood is everywhere in the Dior couture show: the sobriety, modest femininity and pared-down opulence. 

Yet, there is a distinctly feminist, #RESIST current running through this Dior couture collection. Will it declare itself again in Chiuri's fall 2018 ready-to-wear show? I hope so. After all, the female actors like Meryl Streep, Jessica Chastain and Emma Jones are promising to wear black dresses to the Golden Globes Awards next Sunday night to protest gender inequality and sexual harassment. The women have also said that they will not answer frivolous, Red Carpet  fashion questions like "who are you wearing?" Like Chiuri's countless marching women, they will speak on topics related to the act of RESISTing. 

Grace Hartzel Heads Up 'Leaders of the Gang', Lensed By Patrick Demarchelier For Dior Magazine Winter 2017

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The latest issue of 'Dior Magazine' features a cover story stars Grace Hartzel, who leads an intrepid band of strong Dior women including Fernanda Ly, Aira Ferreira, Cara Taylor, Ellen Rosa, and Ruth Bell. Longtime muse of photographer Patrick Demarchelier, Grace is a natural choice to embody the spirit of Maria Grazia Chiuri’sready-to-wear collection for Autumn / Winter 201 in 'Leaders of the Gang'. Lensed in the urban outback of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, the cover story is styled by Elin Svahn.

Marique Schimmel Fronts 'Safari Deluxe' | The Woolly Mammoths Are Coming

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Marique Schimmel Fronts 'Safari Deluxe' Lensed By Laura Sciacove Nciacovelli for Marie Claire Italy's May 2017 'Safari Deluxe'.

Safari looks in May magazines are standard fare -- except for Maria Grazia Chiuri presenting her first cruise collection for Christian Dior on May 11 at the Upper Los Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve in Calabasas, Ca. Continuing her design inspiration inspired by strong women worldwide, Chiuri turned to stellar American artist Georgia O'Keeffe,  along with the writings of feminist shamanic author Vicki Noble. The LATimes writes: 

Although all of the pieces bearing the Lascaux-inspired imagery caught the eye, the most memorable were the full skirts, sleeveless dresses and blazers that rendered the drawings of oxen, deer and horses in a silk jacquard that had a dusty golden cast to it.

AOC covered the opening of France's new exhibition center Lascaux 4, a full-size replica of the ancient cave paintings in the Dordogne region of France. 

Nicolas St-Cyr, artistic decorator of Lascaux-4, officially known as the International Centre for Cave Paintings, is one of the few to have visited the real Lascaux. “It’s very special. You have the feeling you are in the presence of man 22,000 years ago when you see the paintings. These were talented artists, working by the light of animal oil lamps, and it’s like they were done yesterday. I was trembling when I came out.”

Virtually all of the Lascaux paintings are of animals, and 'no' there are no woolly mammoths portrayed in the caves. But the Rouffignac cave nearby, with paintings from the same time period, is best known for the large number of woolly mammoths on the walls.