Feminism First with Dior’s Autumn/Winter 2022 Campaign
As reimagined through the eyes of Maria Grazia Chiuri, the women captured in the images emerge as powerful figures second to none.
It’s no secret that Maria Grazia Chiuri is a feminist. And as such, the house of Dior, under the command of its first-ever female creative director has always been feminist at heart, too. Since her debut collection with the house – where she had models strut down the runway donned in t-shirts that read “We should all be feminists” – Chiuri has let her inventions speak for themselves.
Dior’s Autumn/Winter 2022/2023 campaign is another female-focused story woven together under Chiuri’s direction. For the runway show, Chiuri chose Italian feminist artist Mariella Bettineschi, to bring the scenography to life. With the artist’s permission, she also reinterpreted the series of strong portraits from Bettineschi’s L'era Successiva or The Next Era, for the collection.
In The Next Era, the artist reworks famous paintings made by male artists, from eras bygone. The contemporary work of Bettineschi shifts the angle of well-known portraits from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. She removes the objectified women from their simplified interpretations through the male gaze and reintroduces them to the world as women with agency, opinions and drive.
The campaign images for this collection are of strength and of reclamation, derived from the pointed purposes of Bettineschi’s portraits. Shot by photographer Brigitte Niedermair, the campaign strikes as bold and unapologetic. The collection looks into the past and future – combining the famed portraiture with technology in fashion. In collaboration with Italian start-up D-Air lab, the signature Bar jacket from Dior gets a tech revamp, with technical inserts that are climate-sensitive, creating a more comfortable experience for the wearer.
From this season comes the latest it-bag from Dior: the Essential. Covered in the classic Dior cannage motif, this bold and contemporary bag is a reimagined, luxurious tote, perfect for the powerful woman. The quilting of the bag adds ease to the voluminous memory foam and elevates the look of the Essential bag so you can change the world in style.
