Dior Launches Making of 2021 Cruise Show Documentary


Maria Grazia Chiuri Returns Home To Celebrate, Reveal, and Exult The Beauty Of Puglia

To coincide with the release of its 2021 Cruise Collection, Dior has released a 30 minute documentary about the making of the collection and one of the first shows during a lockdownheld in the town of Lecce, Italy. The choice of the enchanting town in the heart of Puglia region of southern Italy was that of Dior Women’s Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri.

Chiuri expresses her fondness for the region, recalling the summers fondly with her father in Tricase, a coastal town not far from Lecce. The documentary expounds upon the charms of the area and takes the viewer through the steps, motivations, and logistics of putting a runway show together. Throughout the course of the short, the audience meets an array of artists and artisans—from ceramicists to choreographers, designers to weavers, to even the town’s mayor. Italian Director Edoardo Winspeare captures, with a brilliant eye, the secrets of this exceptional performance, an enchanting ode to the region of Puglia.

When they suggested we do it in Italy, I suggested Lecce. And they said yes, and for me this has been a great pleasure because besides being so connected to this region, I love it very much. I think it is also a way of showing not just others, but also those who live here, in a different way, with a different approach, the beauty that’s here!

– Maria Grazia Chiuri, Creative Director Dior

Chiuri took advantage of the beautiful art forms native to the region. She called on Fratelli Parisi to build the enchanting luminarie which lined the buildings of the town square during the show itself. Luminarie are traditionally used in local celebrations; they often honor patron saints by illuminating monuments already standing. In this case, the luminarie was used as a celebration and was lined with words of women’s empowerment.

This very traditional illumination structure includes all these phrases about the emancipation, the empowerment of women, which triggers a kind of short circuit because they are two different languages and aesthetics, so it creates a different atmosphere.

Marinella Senatore, Artist for 2021 Cruise Collection

Other local artisans played into both the collection and the feature including, traditional tableware that Chiuri brought into the picture. Plates by Agostino Branca and their patterns were an influence on the coloring and patterns of the collection. The capsule features flatware with Tarot card images as well as native herbs and plants–iconography symbolizing what Puglia generally and Lecce specifically mean.

https://youtu.be/ufLoo1CTPB4

The film gives insight into the show’s individual elements while always moving forward, leading us to the final product. All of the creator’s featured make beautiful art all on their own, but this film demonstrates how a community filled with artists and artisans can, together, produce a truly inspired event. Instead of focusing on Dior’s home, Paris, they focused on Chiuri’s home. She brought back to Italy all of the convictions that make her vision what it is. And without those convictions, the show would not have been possible, for the very process of bringing all of these artists together is itself a form of empowerment.

Chiuri shares how delighted and lucky she feels to be a part of Dior describing Christian Dior himself an ingenious promoter, not to mention a rockstar of couture. She is amazed that in 10 short years, Dior was able to build a beloved international brand all without the communication advantages that we have today.

The film expands upon the notion of what it takes to be a leading fashion house today and that every collection is an opportunity for enhanced storytelling that can be leveraged to tighten the bound between brand and consumer. The piece is informative, emoting, and engaging. Dior and Chiuri recognize that through the advent of digital and reduced cost of filmmaking, brands today can take the five minute post show explanation of the designers ‘vision’ and convert that to an emersive expereince. The result is a collection with more meaning as the product becomes the souvenier of the brand expereince, rather than the entire expereince itself.