It has become, more than ever, an object of art and desire, revisited by artists from around the world.
For the seventh edition of the Dior Lady Art project, Ghada Amer, Brian Calvin, Sara Cwynar, Alex Gardner, Shara Hughes, Minjung Kim, Zhenya Machneva, Bouthayna Al Muftah, Françoise Pétrovitch and Wang Yuyang – from Egypt to the United States, from Qatar to China – have each risen to the challenge of reinterpreting and transforming the iconic bag. Through the most fascinating detour, the Lady Dior is thus transformed into a unique oeuvre, merging heritage and creative vision.
A meeting between Dior and the cultures of the world, this new inspiring carte blanche showcases virtuoso techniques and craftsmanship, driven by a spirit of innovation and limitless inventiveness.
Let’s take a look at the five Lady Dior handbags we love.
Zhenya Machneva
At the crossroads of archaeology and modern history, Zhenya Machneva’s captivating, colourful tapestries notably retrace the grandeur, decline and breakdown of the industrial era. But also highlight the dreamy melancholy of deserted landscapes and abandoned places around the world, from the post-soviet territory to Europe and United States.
Especially for Dior, she wished to reflect on the place of women in society. Through their strength, and the weight of the demands placed on them. Taking on the appearance of sculptures, her three variations of the Lady Dior are adorned with architectural forms exalting its geometric lines and reflecting the idea of an additional burden, with no true functionality.
One of the models is unveiled on a spectacular, removable pedestal composed of large resin needles. All of the iconic bags’ interior, as well as their exterior, are enhanced by embroideries. Made with an innovative savoir-faire echoing the designer’s passion for craft techniques requiring time and the beauty of the craftsmanship.
Wang Yuyang
Multidisciplinary Chinese artist Wang Yuyang’s work questions the contrast between tradition and technology, artificial reality and historical perception, earth and space.
Experimenting with many media – such as painting, sculpture, photography and video – his pieces offer a new understanding of representations that seem familiar to us. This approach is expressed in the moon, a series of large-scale canvases exploring the depths of our natural satellite, whose surface initiates a dialogue between the scientific and the mystical by being tinged with psychedelic hues.
Wang once again summons this fascination to reinterpret Lady Dior, through five artworks that reflect as many facets of the heavenly body. In an interplay of textures and sensations, each bag is adorned with representations of his works, reinvented using traditional embroidery methods, and combined with new creative techniques.
Thus, the craters are embodied by a profusion of gems and sequins, or through a woven jersey fabric of bewitching, 3d-like relief, while one of the models features the motif of the moon printed on iridescent leather morphing from grey to orange.
Minjung Kim
Korean artist Minjung Kim’s practice is a quest for beauty in serenity. Her work is an invitation to explore oneself and the world, in a constant search for tranquillity.
A poetic harmony that sings an ode to delicateness. Combining the grace of her art with the virtuosity of the Dior ateliers, she reinterpreted the iconic lady Dior through four dreamlike journeys. Printed directly on the bag, her painting of the street is punctuated with flowers in organza tulle, reflecting exceptional savoir-faire.
In turn, her creation of the stories are revisited in mink. An embroidered version that combines couture and sportswear elements adorns a micro-bag. Finally, this Dior icon is preciously crafted and reinvented using excellent craftsmanship inspired by the ancestral art of Hanji paper – displaying, in relief, a mountain range illuminated by bewitching red hues in the colours of dawn.
Brian Calvin
The sun-drenched palette of American artist Brian Calvin’s portraits expresses the youthful energy of his Californian origins with strength and naivety.
Beautiful, ambiguous and almost melancholic, close-up of women represented figuratively, verge on a form of abstraction. The large, caricatured eyes with colour-saturated irises along with the faces surrounded by strands of artfully dishevelled hair, suspend the viewer’s gaze in a moment beyond time, between contemplation and imagination.
For Dior, Brian Calvin has translated his iconic designs onto two lady Dior models – one mini and one medium – with the desire to add a new, tactile, sensorial dimension to his creative process. These fascinating sketches unfurl across the front of the bag, while on the back of the medium model, an azure sky hosts a giant eye, evoking the “eye of truth,” an emblem of good luck, a tribute to the lucky charms that monsieur Dior cherished.
Bouthayna Al Muftah
As a multidisciplinary artist, Qatari artist Bouthayna Al Muftah’s uses of media include paintings, printmaking, and conceptual installations, as well as performative works. Her practice stages the cultural heritage of her country through the archiving of elements from past traditions, thus preventing the loss of a multifaceted memory. By transposing the stories of her land’s people into abstract concepts, she resurrects moments from the past into a contemporary context.
For her reinvention of Lady Dior, Bouthayna calls upon the art of typography and the creation of conceptual artist books to represent a poetic landscape related to her land and Arab authors onto delicate shapes of chiffon.
In hand-embroidered, these specifically designed pieces of fabric evoke the pages of history and memory etched onto a manuscript. Her design brings together narratives symbolizing nostalgia and identity linked together by suspended threads underlining the intimate and universal character of art and fashion.
Discover more details about the collection here.
