Christian Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri Is Awarded France’s Legion d’Honneur
Early this evening in Paris, not long after Christian Dior’s second haute couture show of the day, friends, family, and colleagues of artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri, including Valentino Garavani, Alber Elbaz, and Bianca Jagger, gathered at the house’s Avenue Montaigne headquarters for a reception in her honor. Marlène Schiappa, the French secretary of equality between women and men (why doesn’t the U.S. have one of those?), was on hand to present Chiuri with the French Legion d’Honneur.
Chiuri is the first woman artistic director at Dior, a fact the secretary was quick to point out in her 10-minute speech. Schiappa is also a writer and she had clearly done her research. She knew, for instance, that Chiuri’s favorite tarot card is the mort (death) card because “she understands that it represents change.” Schiappa also spoke eloquently and passionately about Chiuri’s feminism.
The designer had words of thanks for many, including her fashion mentors; LVMH’s Bernard Arnault, Sidney Toledano, and Pietro Beccari; her husband and children; and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose words “We should all be feminists” appeared in the designer’s first collection for Dior.
Chiuri related her advice for young women worried about their future and wondering how to combine their personal and professional passions. “I would like to send them a message,” she said, “to believe in themselves and follow their instincts.” And she also shared a personal manifesto: “Dior is a maison that represents femininity, and for this reason I believe that my commitment is to make women aware of their potential and I thank the maison that supports me and gives a voice to women and their work. Their commitment can change the world.”
At the end of Chiuri’s haute couture show earlier in the afternoon, Adichie had her own words of praise for the designer: “I love her confidence.”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
