Dior Documentary Celebrates Indigenous Mexican Textile Traditions
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ANCIENT AND MODERN: Dior is providing a glimpse behind the scenes of its cruise show in Mexico last May with a documentary that takes viewers on a journey to the communities where weavers keep alive the ancestral textile traditions featured in Maria Grazia Chiuri’s collection.
The label’s creative director of womenswear tapped Circe Henestrosa, curator and designer of last year’s “Frida Kahlo, Beyond Appearances” exhibition at the Palais Galliera museum in Paris, to help her choose among the myriad of artisans from different native groups.
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The hour-long documentary, titled “Dior Metamorphosis (Concealing and Revealing,)” spotlights several key players.
Narcy Areli Morales, the founder of the Rocinante clothing brand, worked with a group of Mixtec women in the mountain village of San Lucas Redención, in the state of Oaxaca, to oversee the design and production of an embroidery technique known as “pepenado fruncido.”
Hilán Cruz Cruz, a weaver and anthropology student from Tlacomulco, a Nahua community, is the cofounder of the Yolcentle workshop that perpetuates the “pepenado hilván” technique, which forms geometric patterns that were featured on a series of shirts and dresses. The film shows him making the journey to the Dior workshops in Paris, where the looks came together.
Pedro Meza is the founder of the Sna Jolobil, which means The Weaving House in the Tzotzil language, which created a gabán tunic based on Dior’s signature Bar jacket.
Made up of 800 women weavers from 20 Indigenous communities in the highlands of southern Mexico, the association is dedicated to preserving and revitalizing Mayan art by encouraging its members to study and recreate ancient textiles, natural dyeing methods for wool and cotton, and ancestral weaving techniques.
Meanwhile, weaver Remigio Mestas supervised the creation of four tunics known as huipils, illustrating the know-how of several Indigenous groups.
Made by Urdimbre Audiovisual, whose activities range from documentary films to concert production, the film also highlights the work of Mexican artist Elina Chauvet, who collaborated with Chiuri on a sequence of dresses featured in the finale of the show at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City.
Made of white cotton muslin embroidered with red thread, they carry messages designed to raise awareness of violence against women and are currently on show at La Galerie Dior at the brand’s historic flagship in Paris.
The cruise 2024 behind-the-scenes documentary will make its debut on YouTube Premiere at 3 p.m. CET on Wednesday, with a live chat option, and will be subsequently available through Dior’s account on the video platform.
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