Dior cruise in Rome: Avant Maria Grazia Chiuri le déluge

Fashion Network

5 days ago

Maria Grazia Chiuri mined the long history of Rome in her latest cruise collection for Dior, as the heavens opened on Tuesday evening just before what will prove to be her final show for the house.
Entitled "Theatrum Mundi", or the" Great Theater of the World", the collection played on the idea of the continual rediscovery of Rome, by artists, writers and archeologists and its never-ending influence in fashion.
Rarely in fashion history, has a show been staged in a more magnificent setting, the garden of the Villa Albani Torlonia, a beautiful late Renaissance cut stone palace that boasts arguably the world's greatest private collection of Ancient Greek and Roman statuary.
Guests scrupulously followed the designer's dictum that ladies dress in white, gentlemen in black. The result was the chicest looking audience we have seen at a show in eons. A threatening sky as guests arrived pre-show to enjoy mimes - all in white - emote out of the tops of three-meter-tall shrubs, or dance like harpies and spirits on raised platforms.
The runway was a pebbled pathway, where the cast scrunched along – essentially all in flats – before the villa's loggia crammed with statues of empresses, goddess and fallen warriors.
Though the setting celebrated led the glories of Ancient Rome, the clothes were contemporary, with a dozen trench coats, cut micro-short and double breasted or long and printed. Not a short look in sight, nearly every passage a column - made in acres of organza, shimmering metallic silks and intricate laces.
Like Rome's history that inspired her, Maria Grazia mixed up epochs in many looks - a pea coat became a frack; a smock was finished as a ball gown. Before going into overdrive at the finale with silk gowns that mimicked gladiator armature.
Where Shakespeare interpreted the metaphysical concept of Theatrum Mundi, with his famed phrase: 'All the world's a stage, and all men and women merely players.' Chiuri saw it as an assemblage of the historic tectonic plates of Rome, the Eternal City where each generation rediscovers thousand year old art treasures and architectural rarities.
Apparent in the brilliant selection of prints, in the latest partnership with another hyper talented Roman artist Pietro Ruffo. The starting point of the collection was Domus Aurea, the giant 80-acre large palatial complex that Emperor Nero began building in AD 64. A symbol of Nero's decadence, it was stripped of its marble, jewels and ivory after his death before falling into disarray only to be discovered some 1,500 years later. When it's beautiful but faded frescoes were to inspire a whole generation of Renaissance artists like Raphael and Michelangelo. Chiuri using Ruffo's faded Domus Aurea prints from the palace in chic coats, silk pants and tops. A truly gifted illustrator, Ruffo's reimagined illustrations had tremendous appeal.
Adding to the contemporary cool, Chiuri had her favorite cinematic collaborator Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone project his short movie Les Fantômes du Cinema as a livestream accompaniment to the show. Happily, Dior had provided everyone with transparent umbrellas, so the audience could still enjoy the show.
The rain fading at the finale, before an array of front-row actresses and aristocrats that included Natalie Portman, Rosamund Pike, Ashley Park, Deva Cassel, Alexandra Daddario, Camille Cotin, Beatrice Borromeo, Valeria Golino, Elza Gonzalez and Victoria de Marichalar.
A total of 80 looks, which included an injection of couture ideas, the collection was unveiled six weeks after Bernard Arnault, the Chairman and CEO of LVMH, which controls Dior, announced that Northern Irishman Jonathan Anderson would succeed Englishman Kim Jones at Dior Men, and stage his first collection in Paris in June. Leading, everyone in fashion, to assume Anderson will soon take over from Chiuri as creative director for women.
Asked directly about her reign at Dior coming to an end, Chiuri responded: 'I have absolutely no comment to make about that. However, I can tell you that I am doing extremely well.'
Quizzed about the influence of Rome in her designs while working for Paris house, Roman-born Maria Grazia added: 'you know something, I never really left Rome. The thing is when you go and live and work abroad you learn more about where you come from. That's what happened to me.'
The Paris haute couture season is due to take place in the second week of July, ten days after the Paris menswear season. Which is when Anderson will make his Dior debut with a show at 2.30PM on Friday, June 27. According to sources, Dior plans not to stage any couture show this summer. The Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, which controls all French runway seasons, declined any comment. But it is understood that when it issues the provisional couture show calendar on Monday it will not contain Dior. Making this cruise performance in Rome, Chiuri's final bow.
Earlier in the day, Chiuri unveiled her next big project, Il Teatro della Cometa, a beautifully restored theatre which she acquired five years ago, located opposite the Capitoline Hill, the political nerve center of Ancient Rome.
Groups of editors were also ferried around 'Maria Grazia's Rome', starting with Tirelli Costumi, a legendary Roman tailor whose unique creations have nabbed over dozen Oscars for Best Costume Design. Where one discovered the bustle dresses made by Tirelli and worn by Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer in Martin's Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, for which Gabriella Pescucci won the 1993 Costume Design Oscar. Nearby replicas of Tirelli made Oscar winning ball gowns dreamed up by Piero Tosi for Luchino Visconti's classic 1963 period film The Leopard. Looks by Tirelli were then worn by the mimes and dancers in Dior's pre-show.
The day began with the inaugural silent play inside Maria Grazia's very own theater, a work of performance art starring a cast dressed in white – ball gown-ed beauties; Orpheus with his lute; spiky haired clowns; society hostesses; dissolute aristocratic dandies; roman empresses – all designed by Chiuri. A homage to the famed balls dreamed up by the society hostess and owner of art galleries in Rome and New York, Mimi Pecci Blunt, who opened the Teatro della Cometa in 1958.
'A little theater inspired by the old court theaters, that is, an intimate, precious, and refined theater in its details,' was how Pecci Blunt described her theater. Creating a signpost to the next act in the creative life of Maria Grazia Chiuri.
All things considered, Maria Grazia's nine-year tenure at Dior helped drive a remarkable period of dynamic growth for the French brand. Her innovative fabric totes were the hottest bags on the planet; her feminist approach won a whole new generation of clients.
At the finale, the crowd rose in a standing ovation, as Chiuri took an extended tour of the ornate garden, clearly moved and wistful, but defiantly proud.
F. Scott Fitzgerald used to say there was no second act in American public life, but he never lived in Rome nor met Maria Grazia. She is already on to her next play.