I have read several articles about last week’s Dior show in Marrakech and 99% of them were in relation to the clothes, the location and the designer.
Don’t take me wrong, the show was amazing, the place wonderful and the designer, Maria Grazia Chiuri, does not need introductions…
I love the brand and since Maria Grazia Chiuri moved there, the collections have become more light, more feminine and more feminist.
However, the point of this article is not the collection in itself, but the behind the scenes.
It is quite common to hear about Cultural appropriation… brands and people exploiting cultures diverse from their own without including or giving credits to the true owners of the heritage…
But fashion is changing and it is not only about making clothes… We are now questioning how we make them, at what cost and with what purpose.
We continue to consume, and we consume a lot… the luxurious brands are, every quarter, breaking records of profitability… we all want to carry the it bag or wear the it pair of shoes, but the winds of mass consumption have started to blow differently. Between my fellow influencers, I hear more and more the word sustainability. We are querying provenance and source of clothes.
Brands are getting KYCed in their way of doing business. Maybe it is not yet fully transparent… but social media has contributed enormously to shed light on provenance, on cost of labour and child exploitation.
Prior, no one could really know of find out in which conditions clothes were being made… how much each brand was paying per piece… Now this game is over….
In the vanguards of the new era, DIOR, is setting new precedents.
The new collection presented in Marrakech is an example of cultural appreciation. Dior selected local artisans and designers who helped the brand to create a collection with true meaning and the presence of local resources. Professionals who understand the culture were hired to help with the interaction between the French brand and the Moroccans.
An amazing process of integration in a world lacking unison.
The cherry on the cake is that the recognition did not only happen in the back stage… It came to the front row. Dior brought the local artisans and designers to the show, where they could appreciate their creation but also be appreciated for it.
Congrats DIOR… You made the headlines not for what you make but for the values you are sharing!
XX Valentina
