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Maria Grazia’s exit from Dior after a decade of serving as Creative Director of the womenswear and couture collections represents a significant change not just within the House of Dior but within the fashion industry as a whole. Maria Grazia’s stances during her tenure leading the French house were always about blending femininity with feminism —finding strong women as inspiration for her collections wherever she was traveling, speaking with artisans and collaborating with musicians and craftsmen. In 2019, Maria Grazia was inspired by escaramuzas; female rodeo riders who keep Mexico’s oldest equestrian tradition alive. In one of her first collections, she sent to the runway a graphic t-shirt that read “We Should All be Feminists”.
The messages that Maria Grazia wanted to share through fashion during her time as Dior’s Creative Director for Women’s and Couture collections were consistent. There were elements of strength and empowerment. There were references to historical figures and symbols of the past that are inspiring and aspiring. There was a consistent quality and sophistication that identifies the House of Dior while at the same time there was something revolutionary that sparked joy and excitement because of the message it conveyed.
One of the most powerful and emotional moments of Maria Grazia’s tenure at Dior happened in May 2023 when she presented her Cruise collection in Mexico City. The show closed with a dramatic series of white dresses and red motifs embroidered while the song “Canción sin Miedo” (Song with no Fear) played in the background. This song was written by Vivir Quintana in 2020 to bring attention to femicides. In the first seven months of 2020, there were about 2,000 cases of femicides that were reported, and despite the protests, and advocacy, these numbers continue to be significantly high.
I'm Claudia, I'm Esther, and I'm Teresa.
I'm Ingrid, I'm Fabiola, and I'm Valeria
I'm the girl that you took by force.
I'm the mother that now cries for her dead daughters.
Canción sin Miedo - Vivir Quintana
One of the white dresses read Viva mi Vida (Live my Life) under a heart that bloomed branches around the waist. Another dress read “Feminismo y Resistencia” with motifs of sandals decorated with flowers. The sandals embroidered with red yarn may be a nod to the Zapatos Rojos (red shoes) worldwide installation and artistic project by Elina Chauvet, which consists on gathering several pairs of red shoes and displaying them on plazas and public areas to bring attention to the femicides and crimes against women.
The fashion show was inevitably focused on the clothes: the quality of the craftsmanship, the collaboration with Mexican artisans, and the sophisticated inspiration from Frida Kahlo’s paintings to portray feminine and feminist designs. But the fashion in this show was as important as the political messages Maria Grazia she was conveying. The designer has continuously spoken about how most of the books in her office are about feminism, history and social justice rather than about fashion or design principles.
It is based on this premise, that Maria Grazia’s designs were so rich in storytelling and deep meaning behind them. Maria Grazia didn’t just send a series of white dresses with red embroideries. She used the fashion show and the attention from it as a medium to speak about hate crimes and violence against women. She understood, after doing deep research on Mexico and its history —that there are fascinating inspiring women who have paved the way for other women not just in Mexico and Latin America but across the world. At the same time, it was brought to her attention that it was hard to speak about women in Mexico in the 2020s without speaking about the thousands of femicides reported. Based on these facts, it makes sense that for the closing segment of the show, these powerful white dresses with these messages are standing in the center of the venue while the rest of the models walk around them to fully encompass the message of how hate crimes against women are an unavoidable, unhiddable issue; one that needs to be addressed while continuing the empowerment at the core of Maria Grazia’s design intentions during her tenure at Dior.
It is risky to bring attention to a social justice issue of this magnitude —especially for a high fashion brand that is based in a country across the world. But it was a collection that aligned with Maria Grazia’s vision of blending femininity and feminism —two words that sound so similar yet many times it seems as though they can contradict each other.
So why leave now?
The times are changing, and the fashion pendulum is moving to the right. There are many factors influencing these conservative fashion trends. But inevitably, the sociopolitical environment with far-right figures in power is a direct influence on this matter. Conservative fashion is on the rise as a contrasting force from the last decade where streetwear and luxury fashion merged. Under this premise, it is inevitable to ask the question of whether Maria Grazia’s stands on fashion and feminism were to liberal for Dior’s collections under these political fashion times. The messages shared on a runway and in the front row of a fashion show are as important as the quality of the clothes that are being presented.
On another note that indicates a switch of trends. There is a very clear sign of recession. Maria Grazia stepped down from Dior’s women and haute couture collections a few weeks after Kim Jones stepped down from Dior’s men’s collection. Jonathan Anderson will be the successor in charge of producing six collections per year (two haute couture and four ready-to-wear) while still being involved with his brand JW Anderson in a different capacity. The debut show of Jonathan Anderson for Dior’s Men featured 67 looks. So if he produces six collections of sixty looks each in average, he would have to make a look every single day with no room for error and there are days still missing on the calendar year! Of course. It is crystal clear that there is a design team helping Anderson with prototypes, designs and concept ideas. But if there is no investment for creatives to produce six high quality collections every year, this is an indicator that there is a recession coming because the industry is not interested in making important investments in designs and creativity for future collections.
Other cases to watch
Other interesting cases to see around a similar timeline is what is happening on Chanel. The French fashion house founded by Gabrielle Coco Chanel, was built and developed under Chanel’s ideas of designing clothes for women by women. She understood sophistication without the need to be painful. She believed in the practicality of a pair of trousers for women —an entirely radical concept at the time— but making them elegant for the wealthy European aristocracy.
After Chanel passed away and the future of the French House faced uncertainty in the 70s, Karl Lagerfeld was the Creative Director of Chanel from the 80s until 2019 when Lagerfeld passed away. Though the French House seeked the opportunity to bring the female leadership that is woven into what Chanel is and stands for, Chanel’s creative director Virginie Vard (a woman), only lasted about five years until it was announced that Matthieu Blazy would be taking the role of Chanel’s creative director effective in 2025.
The 2010s decade was full of continuous efforts from customers to be seen in the fashion world. A body positivity movement, a MeToo movement, an important step towards racial justice and significant landmarks achieved for the LGBTQ+ community.
These efforts have been made within the fashion industry, not just as a response to the news cycle, but as a form of adaptation to understand who is the economic force and acknowledge the importance of letting people from different backgrounds be seen.
But it seems as though the fashion world is taking some steps back. In an industry where women represent two thirds of the customers who generate revenue, the pendulum in fashion is moving to the right. Let the decisions of customers, the power of their purse and their influence decide what direction fashion should take next. This is political fashion.
