All Photos By Gail

Maria Grazia Chiuri (born 1964 Rome, Italy) is the first woman to be appointed artistic Director at Christian Dior. She established herself as an activist designer with the slogans she incorporated into her first ready-to-wear collection, most famously “We should all be feminists,” from the title of a 2014 essay by Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Chiuri considers it her responsibility, “to create fashion that resembles the woman of today.“ Her first Haute couture collection in 2017 evoke the passage of the seasons and yours “flower-woman.” Chiuri’s spring / summer 2018 haute couture collection explored Surrealism, with a focus on the American photographer Man Ray and female artist such as the Spanish Mexican artist Remedios Varo.

Alchimiste, a black and white checkerboard ensemble that includes a bustier long dress made of organza inserts with a feather-embroidered short cape, as presented here, is inspired by a 1955 painting by Varo.

Photographed as part of the Exhibit, Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams at the Brooklyn Museum.