In a dark, haunting Château de Versailles, Maria Grazia Chiuri unveiled her Dior Fall/Winter 2021 collection inspired by fairy tales, where the time-space dimension was erased, suggestions and intentions gave form and contours to an articulated constellation of clothes and accessories.
After her Spring/Summer 2021 Haute Couture collection inspired by the Tarot de Marseille, Maria Grazia Chiuri had commissioned Italian artist Silvia Giambrone to design the set for her fairy-tale-inspired collection, which she hoped to stage in front of an audience. Since that proved impossible, the house transferred Giambrone’s 14 monumental mirrors, covered in wax and sprouting thorns, to Versailles, transforming the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace into the sumptuous backdrop for Dior’s Fall/Winter 2021 collection film.
“The mirror is an object that attracts us, but at the same time we have a repulsion because when we see our image, in some way it’s very hard to see ourselves – we see what people see about ourselves”, Chiuri remarked.
Far from the watered-down Disney versions, fairy tales are often dramatic stories with a tragic ending. A dark, eerie ambiance hung over Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Fall/Winter 2021 show where a blue cashmere coat, enhanced with red and white, evoked Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘’Tin Soldier’’, red hooded coats recalled Charles Perrault’s ‘’Little Red Riding Hood’’, tartan fabrics and roses told the story of ‘’Beauty and the Beast’’, misty dresses belong to princesses, while black full skirts and Bar jackets, which had been accented with the luxury label’s iconic cannage motif, were offset with childlike white collars, broderie anglaise, and white bobby socks, all naturally recalled the world of childhood. The season ended on a high note with a collection of layered tulle evening gowns. They are certainly worthy of a princess – or, at the very least, Hollywood’s version of one.
“In every collection, Maria Grazia Chiuri chooses a territory where the time-space dimension is erased: suggestions and intentions give form and contours to an articulated constellation of clothes and accessories”, the show’s notes read. “A network of symbols, the tale is hardly just a means of escape: it serves to challenge and revisit stereotypes and archetypes. It consists of a narrative projected into the future”.