After 9 years as Artistic Director of Dior’s ladies’s high fashion, ready-to-wear and equipment collections, Maria Grazia Chiuri is exiting the French luxurious home.
The Italian designer was appointed at Dior in 2016, making historical past as the primary lady to guide the model since its founding in 1947. She adopted within the footsteps of legendary designers together with Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, and Raf Simons.
Previous to this, she started her profession at Fendi in 1989 as a purse designer, later becoming a member of Valentino in 1999 as an equipment designer earlier than being promoted to co-Artistic Director alongside Pierpaolo Piccioli in 2008.
In an announcement, Dior mentioned: “Christian Dior Couture declares that Maria Grazia Chiuri has determined to depart her place as Artistic Director of girls’s high fashion, ready-to-wear and equipment collections.”
Delphine Arnault, Chairman and CEO at Christian Dior Couture, added: “I lengthen my warmest because of Maria Grazia Chiuri, who, since her arrival at Dior, has completed super work with an inspiring feminist perspective and distinctive creativity, all imbued with the spirit of Monsieur Dior, which allowed her to design extremely fascinating collections.
“Maria Grazia Chiuri has written a key chapter within the historical past of Christian Dior, drastically contributing to its exceptional progress and being the primary lady to guide the creation of girls’s collections on the home.”
A successor has but to be named. The information follows Dior’s appointment of Jonathan Anderson as Inventive Director of its males’s collections, succeeding Kim Jones, who stepped down earlier this yr.
The hearsay mill has been swirling for a while round Maria Grazia Chiuri’s potential departure from Dior. Amidst the hypothesis, many business insiders consider that Anderson is being positioned not solely to guide Dior Males – as formally introduced final month – but in addition to take the helm of womenswear.
At LVMH’s annual shareholders assembly in April, CEO Bernard Arnault confirmed that the Irish designer will debut his first assortment for Dior Males at Paris Style Week in June. Whereas the announcement firmly establishes Anderson’s position on the menswear facet, it leaves open the query of whether or not he may also assume inventive path for Dior Ladies.
The information comes after Dior introduced its Cruise 2026 assortment in Rome on 27 Might, showcasing the luxurious model’s high fashion and ready-to-wear creations.
Chiuri delivered an “autobiographical synthesis of a second suspended in time”, with the items within the metaphorical assortment making an attempt to fuse trend historical past and up to date syntax.
It featured masculine vests with delicate lapels paired with lengthy, full skirts and tailcoats. In the meantime, clothes in very tremendous lace or contrasted with bas-relief patterns have been mixed with army jackets with black edges and detailed buttons.
