Feminism has been the highlight of artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first collection as she takes her place at Christian Dior.
The new artistic director for Christian Dior creates collection inspired by novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s famous TED speech, “We All Should Be Feminists.”
Feminism has been the highlight of artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri’s first collection as she takes her place at Christian Dior. Most importantly, this is the first time the famous French brand has hired a woman to fill this position in its history of 70 years, which is already a win for feminism. This is a common criticism brought forward by women when it comes to fashion as there are more men than women in influential positions for an industry that predominantly caters to women. However, this isn’t the only reason feminism is the topic of discussion for Dior’s latest collection by Chiuri.
The designer chose a strong statement to create the collection in the shape of a statement tee with the words, “We all should be feminists” emblazoned across it. These powerful words were the name of the groundbreaking speech Adichie gave at a 2013 TedxEuston talk, which later developed into a book-length essay.
As Adichie sat in the front row, models stomped out on the runway to Beyonce’s girl-power anthem ‘Flawless’ and words of Adichie’s speech were also echoed throughout the show, according to the Washington Post.
Chiuri decided to comment on feminism by using fencing as her point of reference as the silhouettes and colours were all based around the sport. “Fencing is a discipline in which the balance between thought and action, the harmony between mind and heart are essential,” Chiuri says. “The uniform of the female fencer is, with the exception of some special protections, the same as for a male fencer. The female body adapts itself to an outfit which, in turn, seems to have been shaped to its curves.”
Adichie’s speech was empowering for many women as she addressed the controversy around the word ‘feminist’ and how many women, as well as men, shy away from it. She answered a question which many people ask: “Why the word feminist? Why not just say you are a believer in human rights, or something like that?” She answered this in her speech by saying “Because that would be dishonest. Feminism is, of course, part of human rights in general—but to choose to use the vague expression ‘human rights’ is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender. It would be a way of pretending that it was not women who have, for centuries, been excluded. It would be a way of denying that the problem of gender targets women.”
Additional information from Elle.com and OkayAfrica.com
