#SuzyCruise: Dior Waxes Lyrical In Marrakech

#SuzyCruise: Dior Waxes Lyrical In Marrakech

作者：Suzy Menkes 编辑：yijie.zhang 时间：2019年5月07日
内容来源：VOGUE时尚网  图片来源：VOGUE国际网站：英国

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Designer Maria Grazia Chiuri works with African creatives for a meaningful Cruise collection

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Front-row luminaries at the Dior Cruise 2020 presentation at the El Badi Palace in Marrakech included (from left) Shailene Woodley, Jessica Alba, Elisabetta Beccari, Pietro Beccari, Lupita Nyong'o and Emanuelle Seigner

‘Cultural appropriation’ is a much-used criticism in social media. But do those words define in any way the Dior Cruise collection, shown in Marrakech, with models walking around fire and water in the noble ruins of the El Badi Palace?
Add birds of prey flying over the crumbling walls, with the flash-bang of an unexpected thunderstorm, and you might be persuaded to imagine that Mother Nature was in a rage.

The El Badi Palace in Marrakech provided the dramatic backdrop to the Dior Cruise 2020 show

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But not, surely, with Maria Grazia Chiuri, who was scrupulous in her support of heritage techniques from across the African continent and beyond. In particular, she used Uniwax – the African company that still produces pure batik – under threat in favour of cheap, digitally-produced versions.

“If Dior uses the wax properly, people will understand that it is part of luxury,” the designer explained. “At this moment when everyone is speaking about cultural appropriation, we want to explain that craftsmanship moves around the world, but we are all on common ground. We speak too much about the distance between us – let’s talk about what we have in common.”

A shirt for Dior Cruise 2020 by Pathé'O – Nelson Mandela's tailor

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Batik was the star of the collection, offering historic patterns made modern. The research was deep, even daring, with Pathé Ouédraogo (known as Pathé’O), an African legend as tailor to the late Nelson Mandela, invited by Maria Grazia to create one Dior outfit. Pathé’O showed an image of the late South African President down the spine of the outfit.

There was so much more out of Africa – primarily the wax treatments on cloth, traced back from Indonesia via Dutch merchants to Holland and then to Africa. The Uniwax batik, on the Ivory Coast, was recommended with the help of anthropologist and fabric expert Anne Grosfilley. Her book, African Wax Print Textiles, became Dior’s bible.

Dior Cruise 2020

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As if all that were not enough to inspire this inter-season collection, Maria Grazia had many other ideas and influences. They included 2016 LVMH Prize-winner Grace Wales Bonner, who has a Jamaican heritage. She inspired a youthful but graceful version of that famous (dare we say pesky?) ‘Bar’ jacket.

The 'Bar' jacket as interpreted by Grace Wales Bonner for Dior Cruise 2019

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