Dior Displays Art of India in Mumbai Show
Dior staged its latest show in front of the famed Gateway of India, with Bollywood stars and Indian aristocracy in the front row, a collection that celebrated Mumbai’s great métier d’art – intensely unique embroidery.
Despite the fact that the collection was for the fall 2023 season, it shone with some remarkable embroidery of golden peacocks or tigers courtesy of Chanakya, a brilliant atelier and school of skilled artisans with whom Dior’s creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, has worked for three decades. “It’s a tribute to an art form.” “In France, we talk a lot about métiers d’art, and here in Bombay, they talk about their own unique métier d’art,” Chiuri explained in a pre-show briefing.
There were many last-minute arrivals and melodramas – grand dames in saris demanding front-row seats before the 18-piece India orchestra – led by a blistering percussionist and a sitar duet – began the opening sounds. An incredible soundtrack created in collaboration with Michel Gaubert and Scottish cellist Oliver Coates, sadly undermined by its placement in a dark corner. The only flaw in an otherwise historic event.
Hundreds of people walked to the show from the Taj Mahal Palace, a beautiful colonial hotel that was also the site of the November 2008 terrorist attacks that killed 166 people. The show, which drew local actresses and socialites such as Diana Penty, Natasha Poonawalla, Khushi Kapoor, and Ananya Panday, had understandably tight security. Freida Pinto, Maisie Williams, Simone Ashley, and Cara Delevingne are among the international actors. While in Paris, Dior invited Laetitia Casta, Mathilde Warnier, Beatrice Borromeo Casiraghi, Jeanne Damas, Camille Cottin from Call My Agent!, and Lucie de la Falaise with Ella Richards.
When asked about Dior’s online business, Delphine said, “Our Indian clients are very attached to Dior’s values and history.” This friendship has always crossed borders and continues to grow through exhibitions, store openings, and one-of-a-kind encounters like this Dior show, which is more meaningful than ever.” Overall, the mood board for this show and soirée referenced Dior’s third designer Marc Bohan, who took Dior to India in 1962, as seen in black-and-white photos from that trip.
