The interplay between art and fashion has always resulted in enigmatic outcomes. This is uniquely made evident by Dior’s Spring – Summer 2022 Haute – Couture Show designed by Maria Grazia Chuiri. The principle actor is embroidery in this collection. That which interconnects the nodes of art and fashion brought together, making one contemplate the role of art, fashion and craft. What is distinguishable about the couture is Dior’s collaboration with Mumbai based Chanakya School of Craft that translated Indian modernists Madhvi and Manu Parekh’s works into the language of embroidery that spanned across the runway.
Mumbai, Musée Rodin Paris
“The atelier – where head and hands work in concert – is both an instrument and a place of experimentation; a living organ where savoir-faire and savoir-être meet and evolve, in the course of a collaboration that constantly reaffirms the magical and scientific language that is haute couture.” This emblem of the collection establishes a bridge between the dichotomy of art and craft where the conceptual act reimagines these establishments. The intention is to acknowledge human relationships with handmade objects. The conceptual impetus transformed embroidery to three-dimensional sensuality, giving the fabric its structure, its architecture.
The signature tights are the sensuous charm of the collection. It’s an interplay where embroidery interacts with fabric to grant a spectacular dimension. Maria Grazia Chuiri reasserts the syntax and grammar of the atelier manifesting through grey suits to evening dresses and a series of draped leotards. The collection encompasses all-over embroidered ecru skirts with a sheer silk organza shirt, cashmere coats, conceal jacket-and-pant ensembles, and pleated skirts billowing under structured coats. The fundamental essence of couture is to dress the body.
The embroidery is translated beyond its ornamental appreciations through the silhouettes. It encapsulates the fundamental language of the collection, aiding the structure of the garments. What appears is a new material surface in itself, redefining the curves of the body. These multiplicities of skills are a result of passion and commitment by the artisans at the ateliers of Chanakya, Vermont and Lesage working from Paris to Mumbai. The elements of antique grace in the flowing dresses is an ode to sculptural elegance.
Of the major highlights of the collection is its creative dialogue with India. The collection brought two of India’s major modernists, Madhvi Parekh and Manu Parekh’s visuality that compliments the brimming elegance of the couture. Madhvi (b. 1943) and Manu (b.1939), the objective was to accentuate the male/female dichotomy that compliments enrichment of the collection. Both Madhvi and Manu Parekh illustrate the nuances of the country’s traditional cultures. Madhvi’s visuals imantes the powers of the divine; a surreal language that engenders the world in her realm of imagination. It is the symbolic depiction of the feminie energies, charged with the spiritual invokings. Her work, a personification of man and nature being one.
2021-22, Photograph © Chanakya
Manu Parekh’s work envisages the abstract, the spiritual and the landscape. He depicts imagery that makes one travel the voids of the psyche. The couple’s works, translated into the language of threads through embroidery, were featured at the show’s runway, covering the entirety of the walls. Imagined and produced at the Chanakya School of Craft, Mumbai is a persuasion of a dialogue where art and craft subsumed into one. It took 380 artisans 280,000 hours to embroider the 340 square metres installation. This reinvents the role of the atelier, that of the artist, and that of the couturier.
“The collective vision for this collaboration was to create an immersive experience that celebrates the culture of craftsmanship and the interconnection between us all. This collaboration with the artists aims to overcome the division between art and craft. It recounts their love story, and speaks of how one seamlessly influences the other.”
– Karishma Swali (Chanakya)
Text by Kuldeep Patil
Image courtesy: Dior, Laura Sciacovelli, Chanakya School of Craft Mumbai,
Find more about the Dior’s Spring – Summer 2022 Haute – Couture Show:
https://www.instagram.com/dior/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/chanakya.school/?hl=en
https://www.dior.com/en_int/womens-fashion/haute-couture-shows/spring-summer-2022-haute-couture-show
https://news.artnet.com/style/dior-haute-couture-ss22-2065759
