Grace. Dior Resort 2026

May 29, 2025 | Design & Culture by Ed

Today, Lorde released Man Of The Year, her second single from the highly-anticipated Virgin album. The song is heart-and-gut-wrenching in the most Lorde way you can imagine: raw, vulnerable, unfiltered. By the time we reach the outro, Let’s hear it for the man of the year, there is a subtle shift from mourning to ecstatic celebration. The phrase is repeated like a sarcastic toast, both honoring and burying (burning alive!) the man who inspired the deep, painful turmoil. But ultimately, Man of the Year is not really about him. It is about Lorde reclaiming the narrative, re-emerging from ego death and heartbreak with sharpened clarity.

Quite coincidentally, it was officially announced today (after months of speculation) that Maria Grazia Chiuri is stepping down from Dior. Social media raved: finally!; fashion gods heard our prayers; the end of a nightmare. Voiced especially by men, you just can’t not agree with @lewissmag that there’s a tinge (or even plenty) of misogyny sparking that excitement of a woman departuring a maison like Dior after a decade of immense volume of work. A reminder that the fashion males, queer or not, had a very similar blast when Virginie Viard left Chanel. They were in heaven.

Now don’t get me wrong: I’ve never been a number one fan of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s work at Dior – just not my cup of tea, aesthetically. But I do realize that all the logo totes aren’t her sin: it’s in fact LVMH and Bernault Arnault’s endless financial insatiability that powered Dior’s horrific merchandise in the last decade. Just think of the once sophisticated and chic Dior boutique on Avenue Montaigne that now looks like a massive, tacky department store. It’s also not Chiuri’s fault. Unfortunately, creative directors really don’t have all the power when leading a brand.

What this female designer managed to make out of Dior is turning it into a brand that’s in a way similar to Giorgio Armani’s universe: you don’t have to follow it from season to season, because you won’t really see a revolution on the runway – but there’s always a beautiful dress, a great coat, a proper jacket. A continuity that has its rhyme and rhythm.

In a way, it seems to me that Maria Grazia Chiuri truly refound herself at the very end of her tenure at Dior. Her pre-fall 2025 show in Tokyo had a spark. Her swan song outing, for resort 2026, presented in the enchanting garden of Villa Albani Torlonia in Rome, was powerful in its grace. Those velvet column gowns are pure delights, just as the remarkable fur coats that are actually made from plume. The collection’s opening look, a masculine white tailcoat worn with a maxi-length, matching skirt, is the absolute essence of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s contribution to fashion, in past misguided by unfortunate styling or simply obscured under all the gimmicks of fashion show spectacles. This ideal, minimalist yet sumptuous simplicity was followed by many variations on the theme of the long, slim, semi-sheer dress. The lace effects were almost countless – 3D florals, rivulets of ruffles, leafy cut-outs, wavy art deco frills, gilded latticework covered with silken fringe. Underwear visible, shoes flat. A statement.

And then, the haute couture finale featuring caviar-beaded, trompe l’oeil-effect dresses that looked like statues dating back to Ancient Rome. Male statues, to be precise. Torsos, like armors (a theme moved very literally by Nicolas Ghesquière at Louis Vuitton just a week ago). Going back to Lorde, Man Of The Year’s cover art is a Talia Chetrit photograph of the singer’s bust, covered with duct tape. Now, do you see the connection between these two?

Will Maria Grazia Chiuri return to fashion in the near future? Probably she will spend her time on cultural initiatives, like the Teatro Della Cometa she renovated and reopened to the public a couple of days ago. And who will lead Dior’s womenswear now? Probably Jonathan Anderson. Another M.O.T.Y.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Théâtre de la Mode. Dior AW20 Couture

July 7, 2020 | Design & Culture by Ed

Yesterday was the first day of the autumn-winter 2020 haute couture “week”, digitally streamed from Paris due to confinement reasons. To be honest, I had a huge dilemma with it. After seeing all the look-books and pretentious, confusing videos, I felt like everybody would be completely fine with skipping this season entirely – designers the most. Schiaparelli released a look-book featuring Daniel Roseberry’s sketches, just to have a brief moment going on on Instagram. Illustrations are beautiful and all, but the execution of this concept felt completely empty. Olivier Theyskens couldn’t imagine a worse timing with his Azzaro debut – the blurry music video the label released tells nothing about his vision for the brand, and it would be simply best if they postponed it. But the fashion industry seems to still not know that word: “postpone”. Everything must be immediate, even if there’s nothing to show.

Maria Grazia Chiuri‘s Dior collection, clothes-wise, was surprisingly good. And they really, really could just leave it the way it is, a proper look-book photos of mannequins wearing couture and a well-written press release. Unfortunately, the brand decided to start with a visual, where everything went wrong. I’m talking about the film directed by Matteo Gerrone, which I found cheesy in production and, well, so, so ignorant towards current events going on in the world. As if Black Lives Matters never happened, an all white cast without a single model of colour held it all back to the maximum. And having models of colour in a casting is the easiest way for a brand to confront the term “diversity” – something Chiuri used to say was so important to her, with all her “feminist” themes… – and believe it or not, Dior failed with it. Which is sad and frustrating. Ok… lets go back to the collection. The film showed mermaids, nymphs, a live Venus statue and a travelling trunk of dresses (a nod to Théâtre de la Mode, the tour of miniature gowns on dolls in 1945-46 to revive the French fashion industry post-war) exploding into the woods in an Ancient dreamscape, and all that lead us to a collection filled with references of Greek mythology, fairytales and pre-Raphaelite times. Maria Grazia Chiuri name-checked the likes of Lee Miller, Dora Maar, Leonor Fini and Jacqueline Lamba – 20th-century women who are often remembered by history for their beauty or for their famous lovers and husbands, but in fact did important work of their own as artists. With a surrealist twist, that was a line-up of delightful diaphanous gowns and voluminous New Look-inspired coats, all kept in neutral colours. The bondage details in some of the dresses made me think of Man Ray and Lee Miller’s work, were kinky merged into sensual. At some points it all looked overly historical, even theatrical. Not sure if it’s relevant couture, like the one Virginie Viard does at Chanel. But if any sort of MET Gala is coming up in 2020, those dresses will perfectly match the About Time: Fashion and Duration theme.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Single-Minded. Dior AW17 Couture

July 5, 2017July 5, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Looking at Maria Grazia Chiuri‘s time-line at Dior, which started about a year ago, one thing’s sure – she doesn’t care about the critics and suggestions of others. She likes going one clear, single-minded direction per season, making her overall work feel like a set of trends, rather than a consistent story told by an experienced designer. Let’s go navy this season, let’s do ‘feminism’ this time, oh, maybe let’s do a Western theme!

So, what’s on the table this couture season? Fifty shades of grey, literally (expect three, four looks kept in multi-coloured patchwork). Heavy masculine coats, fedora hats, dusty ball-gowns for cosmopolitan ladies of early 20th century – you would expect something more radiant for a brand’s 70th anniversary. “Honestly, it’s completely different to see the real archive and the image that some people have about Christian Dior. There’s so much daywear.” Thought it’s a haute couture show, where you don’t give a damn about something like ‘daywear’ and instead go for imagination. Talking of Dior, the man – the bar jacket is here. With this exhausted piece, Chiuri checks the box every season, saying that she finds a connection with the brand’s founder. But Maria Grazia should focus on making Dior feel contemporary, even for a billionaire’s wifes who will buy it later in the atelier. Or, I guess, this sells well, if she’s still at the maison…

Collage by Edward Kanarecki (backdrop: Gordon Parks’ photo).

Los Angeles. Dior Resort’18

May 12, 2017June 9, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Firstly, that was Maria Grazia Chiuri‘s best collection at Dior up-to-date. And it was far, far away from Paris. Comparing to her previous outing – an all-blue collection, which rather looked like Armani’s millionth set of blazers than a second line-up from a debuting creative director – resort 2018 was quite outstanding. With preciously intricate gowns (which will surely find a place among L.A.’ wealthiest women), an incredible tent constructed in the middle of Upper Las Virgenes Canyon in Calabasas and a strong, Georgia O’Keeffe moment (the late “Mother of American modernism” was known for wearing a black hat and matching over-sized coat), there’s a lot to mention, while discussing this collection. After the show, Maria Grazia said that she has a life-long love affair with Clarissa Pinkola Estés book called Women Who Run with the Wolves – that set the free-spirited mood behind the silhouettes. Moreover, the designer decided to use the famous Lascaux cave paintings as the main print for rich, jacquard fabrics (Monsieur Dior used them too, back in 1951). Then, we also had the tribal symbols covering silk sheaths and ball skirts, underscoring Chiuri’s love for mystical themes.

But, am I the only one, who thinks that there’s too much going on in here? It’s beautiful, no doubt. However, Maria Grazia’s vision for this season has no bigger connection with the maison, as for me. Expect, a few old-school Dior logos on the bags and a suede bar jacket with fringes (AND this looked really upsetting). It seems that the designer has no sense of consistency, as she jumps from one topic to another – and that’s clearly visible once you re-see her previous collections, spanning from enchanted forest nymphs to faux-feminists in pricey t-shirts. And the saddest thing is that Dior’s identity becomes blurrier with every season. Resort 2018 rather looks like a well-funded Ralph Lauren collection or Chanel’s memorable Paris-Texas capsule (déjà vu, anyone?).

One thing’s sure – Chiuri knows how to design a dress and make Rihanna see her show. But does she know how to lead a heritage brand with sense? I think we’re getting to the point, where the answer is ‘no’.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

A Matter of Feminism. Dior SS17

October 3, 2016October 3, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Today in Poland, thousands of brave women and great men walked down the streets wearing black. They were protesting in solidarity against an anti-abortion law, which is meant to be introduced by the Polish government – in other words, instead of spreading sexual awareness and wider access to contraception, politicians want to utterly limit women’s rights to their bodies in my country. And all of that happens at the same time when Paris Fashion Week is at its full spin. Rarely does a fashion week glamorama relate to reality, and it’s nearly a non-sense to compare those two, completely different universes. But still, Dior‘s spring-summer 2017 burns in my head intensely, noting today’s events.

A few months ago, Maria-Grazia Chiuri, a former designer of Valentino (she worked with Pierpaolo Piccioli, who’s now the head of the brand), was announced as the new creative director of this historic French maison. Yes, you’ve read that correctly: a woman is taking Dior under her wings. Chiuri definitely made history with her appointment, and her step forward highlighted that it’s an ultimate end of a women-less era in fashion… which is, ironically, mostly created for women. Trust me, I was extremely excited about her debut collection. But when I saw the entire show, I felt disgusted. A dummy knew that Maria-Grazia would hit the topic of her own phenomenal appearance in this brand.

In result, she delivered t-shirts with slogans like “we should all be feminists“. How. Banal.

From a position of a female fashion designer, who did Valentino, and now does Dior, being a “feminist” should give an example to millions of people – really, the platform of influence is huge. But in the end, it’s about a t-shirt, which will surely cost approximately 200 euros (or more?). Looking down, we’ve got a meticulously embroidered tulle dress, which will, hah, cost a car. I love fashion, and this industry, but I’m frustrated with the way such important topics as “feminism” is easily printed and tagged around. It’s just about being desperately relevant. It’s like the spring-summer 2015 collection by Chanel, where Karl Largerfeld sent out a line of XS-sized models in couture tweeds to protest in a faux demonstration. In my very personal opinion, coining the term “feminism” can’t be anyhow compared to egalitarian (Valentino and Chanel are far from affordable), or can’t be approached lightly, without a second thought. And while I’m still in the mood of protests and outrage, seeing a fashion collection which is “trying” to be feminist hurts.

Ok, let me chill. Do you want to see real feminism in fashion? Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons. She is the founder of her entire company, and she continues to thrive as an independent owner of it. Phoebe Philo is the embodiment of feminism at Céline, where she creates wearable, everyday clothes for every kind of women. It’s pricey, but a Philo piece is an investment for life. While at Valentino, we’ve got ballerina dresses, tons of embellishments and Dior-logo heels – barely classics. Not that Maria-Grazia Chiuri is a bad designer, or anything like that. I just hope that her tenure at Dior won’t end with a pack of short-sighted slogans.