Last April, Dior hosted its Fall 2024 ready-to-wear collection at the Brooklyn Museum, its first runway show in New York in several years. There, on a Monday evening, friends of the fashion house Naomi Watts, Anya Taylor-Joy, Diane Kruger, Alexandra Daddario, and Charlize Theron were joined by artists like Anh Duong, Titus Kaphar, Spencer Sweeney, Mickalene Thomas, Mariko Mori, Collier Schorr, and Jeff Koons, gathered on the second floor of the museum in its grand Beaux-Arts–style rotunda.
The Dior Fall 2024 finale at The Brooklyn Museum, photo by © Paul Vu, courtesy of Dior.
Aglow with the Artistry of Collective Claire Fontaine
The space was transformed with temporary grand walls and stadium seating, lit by suspended neons by the artist collective Claire Fontaine. The outline of larger-than-life hands coming together into the shape of a diamond—a feminist symbol—hung from above, their varying shades of pink, yellow, green, blue, red, and purple enveloping the space in a warm glow. The artists behind Claire Fontaine, Fulvia Carnevale and James Thornhill, were inspired by the work of the Rome-based feminist artist Suzanne Santoro. “Hands suspended like wings to recall women’s revolt when their hands rose to form a diamond shape. From this vision, for which there is no unequivocal explanation or exhaustive interpretation, we can, however, explore the silence: the silence of a hidden organ, whose presence was vigorously evoked by women’s hands,” said the artist. “The fact of having put this sexual organ, as desired as unknown, in the public arena was an act of rare visual violence, for materializing it, making a double of it with the fingers, was also a way of exorcizing it, of freeing oneself from it as from slavery, of liberating a secret from the darkness that surrounds us.”
Courtesy of DIOR.
Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Nod to Christian Dior and Marlene Dietrich
As the lights went down, leaving just the glow of neon, models walked powerfully across the floor of the rotunda—also designed by Claire Fontaine, depicting a pattern of tiles inspired by the outdoor courtyards of historic homes in Palermo, where they live and work. Always revisiting the contemporary women’s wardrobe needs, Maria Grazia Chiuri was inspired by Mr. Christian Dior’s connection between New York and Paris, finding a muse in actress Marlene Dietrich as both a friend of the house and embodiment of the two iconic cities.
That nod to the 1940s was evident in the styling of the models, as well as the garments, slinky silhouettes in silk featuring deep Vs, halters, and low-cut backs. Dietrich’s challenging of gender norms was also present, in nods to suiting that went beyond contemporary takes on Dior’s iconic bar suit. There were top hats, vests, tuxedo tails, and starched white button-downs paired with barely-there shorts, beaded mini skirts, over-the-elbow gloves, and undone neckties. Classic tweeds, a nod to Dietrich and English menswear, joined draping, floor-grazing gowns in velvet; floor-length, snug leather jackets; and swinging beaded tassels covering dresses, skirts, tunics, and sleeves.
Materials also referenced the archives of the house. “In the last few years, tweeds have extended their use even for dressy suits. I think they are extremely elegant. To wear them in the country is a ‘must.’ At one time, you could only get tweeds in a rather heavy weight but now you can get them in all weights and qualities and colors,” Mr. Dior wrote in Petit Dictionnaire de la Mode.
Courtesy of DIOR.
An Ode to the Big Apple Unfolds in Color and Texture
The palette was signature New York—a lot of black. All-black looks met stark whites, silvers, creams, deep burgundies, grays, and navy. Unique to the show were looks that felt like Easter eggs—trenches, dresses, track suits, and matching sets of the New York and Paris skylines. There was even a bag and track pullover in red, white, and blue, a shining mix of the U.S. and French flags. Beaded skirts and dresses in a crisscross, net-like pattern recalled the gridded streets of Manhattan. Looks felt oh-so Big Apple, alluding to Wall Street, Broadway, the Upper East Side, and Brooklyn.
Dior showing this collection in New York taps into the relationship of the house with the city, both past and present. Months after debuting his first collection—what would be named the “New Look”—in 1947 at 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, Mr. Dior came to New York for the first time, awarded the Neiman Marcus Prize for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion. In just days he fell under its charms. “To all my questions, it was the city of New York itself which gave the best answer,” said Mr. Dior. Arriving by ocean liner, he remarked of the shores of the city, “When it appeared on the horizon at dawn on the fifth day, radiant with the glory of its Indian summer.” The following year he’d launch Christian Dior New York and soon struck up a longtime partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue that included a Winter 2007 runway show from the designer John Galliano.
“To all my questions, it was the city of New York itself which gave the best answer,”
Christian Dior
Courtesy of DIOR.
A Cross-Cultural Connection Endures
Dior has maintained strong cultural ties with New York as well. In 1996 The Met hosted an exhibition devoted to Christian Dior, a blockbuster show that celebrated the fashion house’s 50th anniversary. From 2012 to 2022 it was the main sponsor of the Guggenheim International Gala. And in 2019, Chiuri began Dior’s current relationship with the Brooklyn Museum, visiting and becoming enthralled by Judy Chicago’s monumental The Dinner Party. Her encounter with the work at the Brooklyn Museum prompted a collaboration with the artist for the Spring/Summer 2020 haute couture collection and scenography. In 2021, the internationally touring “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams,” was hosted at the museum (a stunning show that also transformed the iconic rotunda), and just last year they became a partner in its annual Artists Ball supporting education and programming.
“My two days in New York were spent in a continuous state of wonder,” described Mr. Dior. We were transported to that state of wonder with Dior’s Fall 2024 show, reinvigorating our love of the city we first called home.
