4 days ago
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- Vogue Singapore
Maria Grazia Chiuri to exit Dior
It's the end of an era. After a nine-year run as Dior's creative director of women's haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections, Maria Grazia Chiuri is leaving the French luxury house.
'Christian Dior Couture announces that Maria Grazia Chiuri has decided to leave her position as creative director of women's haute couture, ready-to-wear and accessories collections,' the house said in a statement on Thursday.
'I extend my warmest thanks to Maria Grazia Chiuri, who, since her arrival at Dior, has accomplished tremendous work with an inspiring feminist perspective and exceptional creativity, all imbued with the spirit of Monsieur Dior, which allowed her to design highly desirable collections,' Christian Dior couture chairman and CEO Delphine Arnault said. 'She has written a key chapter in the history of Christian Dior, greatly contributing to its remarkable growth and being the first woman to lead the creation of women's collections.'
'I would like to thank Monsieur Arnault for placing his trust in me and Delphine for her support, Chiuri said. 'I am particularly grateful for the work accomplished by my teams and the ateliers. Their talent and expertise allowed me to realise my vision of committed women's fashion, in close dialogue with several generations of female artists. Together, we have written an impactful chapter of which I am immensely proud.'
A successor has yet to be announced. This comes after Dior appointed Jonathan Anderson as its artistic director of men's collection in April, succeeding Kim Jones, who exited in January.
The Italian designer began her career at Fendi in 1989 as a handbag designer and moved to Valentino in 1999 as an accessories designer before being promoted to co-creative director alongside Pierpaolo Piccioli in 2008. She was appointed at Dior in 2016, becoming its first female designer since the house was founded in 1947—she succeeded Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano and Raf Simons.
Her debut collection for Spring/Summer 2017, inspired by fencing, featured slogan tees, which read 'We should all be feminists'. That set the tone for her tenure, which consistently referenced women's empowerment. 'The message, really, is that there is not one type of woman,' she told Vogue Runway at the show. Over the years, Chiuri has collaborated with several female artists for show sets, including Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, Eva Jospin and Mickalene Thomas. In the Dior SS25 show, Italian artist and competitive archer Sagg Napoli shot arrows at a target as the models did their circuit.
Chiuri also consistently drew on the archives beyond Christian Dior's era. 'Monsieur Dior only [lived] 10 years. It can't only be about him!' she told Vogue Runway at her debut show. 'In some ways, I see myself as a curator of the house.' For example, in 2018, together with CEO Pietro Beccari, who was appointed in 2017, she relaunched the Saddle Bag, one of the house's iconic bags from the Galliano era. For AW24, she paid homage to Marc Bohan's invention of the Miss Dior line, and notably the opening of a (now defunct) Miss Dior boutique in 1967, as a way to offer ready-to-wear to couture clients. 'I'm very fascinated by this collection and this moment of Mr. Bohan's history,' she told Vogue Runway . The Dior AW25 show had 'Dior-isms', including nods to Galliano's Saddle bag and J'Adore Dior T-shirts and to Gianfranco Ferré's white shirts, according to Vogue Runway . Maria Grazia Chiuri poses with models backstage at the Dior resort 2026 show. Acielle/StyleDuMonde
The designer has navigated the course through the whirlwind of runway shows, including women's ready-to-wear couture, cruise, and even pre-fall shows (such as the one in Mumbai, which highlighted the works of artisans, and most recently in Kyoto). It all translated into enormous commercial success. Dior couture sales went from €2.2 billion in 2017 to €9.5 billion in 2023, per HSBC. Dior isn't immune to the wider luxury slowdown, though. In 2024, sales decreased to €8.7 billion, according to HSBC. And in the first quarter of 2025, sales of LVMH's fashion and leather goods division were down 5 per cent. Dior hired Benedetta Petruzzo as managing director, who took up the role on 15 October, reporting to Delphine Arnault, and Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou as deputy CEO in April.
In her downtime, as a personal project, Chiuri has been restoring a historic theatre, Rome's Teatro della Cometa.
The Dior resort 2026 show, held on Tuesday, was 'a heartfelt, nearly all-white celebration of Rome, her birthplace', according to Vogue Runway. It was her last show with the house.
The story was originally published on Vogue Business.
