Maria Grazia Chiuri Takes New York for Dior Pre-Fall 2024

Ana Colón

April 16, 2024 at 9:44 AM·8 min read

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In recent years, a certain class of luxury brand has turned the destination show from a one-off occurrence into a regular part of the fashion calendar. These pre-collections take us all across the globe: Next month, Gucci's heading to London, Louis Vuitton to Barcelona and Chanel to Marseille — but on Monday night, Dior kicked off the in-between season with a runway presentation in Brooklyn for Pre-Fall 2024.

In an interview with Vogue published ahead of the show, Chiuri revealed her longstanding fascination with New York City, dating back to her first-ever visit when she was 18. It's stayed with her, well into her time at Dior: She told José Criales-Unzueta that staging a runway show in New York has always been a goal of hers in her time at its helm — it took eight years, but it's a move that makes sense with the house's history, dating back to Mr. Christian Dior himself.

The brand staged the runway at the Brooklyn Museum, with which it has an established relationship: It hosted the monumental "Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams" exhibit. (Dior has been the lead sponsor for its Brooklyn Artist Ball fundraiser for a few years now.) Unsurprisingly, Chiuri — who's made feminism a core value and frequent motif in her work at Dior — also cited the institution's focus on and investment in feminist art as a big draw.

Now, it's worth noting that most of the looks that walked in Brooklyn on Monday night aren't new to Dior devotees: The brand released Pre-Fall 2024 images back in December. (So, if certain pieces felt familiar, it's because you've probably seen them on celebrities like Rachel Zegler and Rachel Brosnahan.) It's not the first time it's done this, nor is Dior the first luxury house to re-stage a collection — it's happening with more and more frequency, as brands aim to extend the conversation around launches and fill the gap between debut and release. (Pre-fall collections arrive in retail in the spring.)

<p>Dior Pre-Fall 2024. Photo: Launchmetrics Spotlight</p> — Dior Pre-Fall 2024. Photo: Launchmetrics Spotlight

View the 115 images of this gallery on the original article

New York is the inspiration for the collection, naturally, and that manifests both literally (with images of the skyline and the city's most recognizable monuments, printed on everything from trench coats to book totes you just know will have a waitlist) and conceptually (a greater emphasis on sportswear, super lightweight knits, a mostly-black color palette). Marlene Dietrich is also a muse, again, as seen in the suiting and other menswear-inspired elements sprinkled throughout, as well as the vintage-y hair and makeup.

Whereas Chiuri's fall collection referenced Marc Bohan's '60s Miss Dior, Pre-Fall 2024 pulls from Dior New York, a diffusion line that brought Mr. Dior's designs to the U.S. via its own Manhattan atelier beginning in 1948. It also brings back a hybrid French-American flag print designed by Alexandre Sache and Bohan for the 1976 Bicentennial, as well as John Galliano's famous newspaper print (fitting that it was made even more famous by New York-synonymous character Carrie Bradshaw), updated to read "New York - Paris".

Much like the chosen setting, the collection is a melting pot: inspired by New York City (and a German actor), designed by an Italian for a French fashion house. It marries these different points of view, and finds where it aligns with Dior's design language: in oversized knits with embellished column skirts, tailored trench coats over suits, puffy jackets belted at the waist, a jersey-like sweatshirt with the New York skyline, crinkled shift dresses and sporty anoraks with illustrations of the Eiffel Tower. There may not be any Maria Grazia-fied "I <3 NY" T-shirts, but there's still plenty for merchandisers to get excited about.

Keep scrolling to see every look in the Dior Pre-Fall 2024 collection.