‘We should all be feminists’: How Rihanna and co. revived Dior for millennials

Source: News Corp Australia Network:

August 24, 2017 at 11:52

IT’S one of the world’s most iconic fashion houses and now, one of the millennial generation’s most coveted labels.

Dior has been the subject of a social media-led resurgence lately, fuelled by celebs like Rihanna, JLaw, Bella Hadid and Miranda Kerr, who have worn designs by the brand’s new creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri.

The French fashion house’s “we should all be feminists” T-shirt, for instance, was a wearable statement against sexism and inequality earlier this year, inspired by novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Rihanna at the Dior show in Paris. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

The white tee was everywhere on social media after Rihanna sported it (a percentage of sales went to Rihanna’s charity, The Clara Lionel Foundation).

WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS

I ❤️️@dior

A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Jan 22, 2017 at 6:31am PST

Under Chiuri’s direction, Dior has been given a feminist voice in what can often be a vapid, one-dimensional industry.

She’s a Dior muse. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

Bella Hadid is the face of Dior Beauty. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

“There is some argument that people’s beliefs are political and so they prefer not to speak about them,” Chiuri, 53, told UK Elle.

“But if you have a point of view, I think you are political in some way, everything is political now.”

Chiuri, who started her career at Fendi and previously worked for Valentino, is influenced by the “millennial generation”, as Elle reported, including her 22-year-old daughter.

Cara Delevingne wearing one of Maria Grazia Chiuri’s designs. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Miranda Kerr, who wore a Dior wedding dress, at the brand’s cruise show in Los Angeles. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

“I think they are very inspiring for me, because they have another point of view about life,” Chiuri said.

“The new generation are the new clients,” she told the British magazine.

And celebs have helped, too. Nicole Kidman, for instance, wore Dior at Cannes.

Jennifer Lawrence at the Christian Dior 2017 fall/winter couture collection show in Paris in July. Picture: AFPSource:AFP

Nicole Kidman wore Dior at Cannes. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

Miranda Kerr got married wearing a custom-made couture wedding dress.

And the brand’s face, Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, has worn it everywhere from the Oscars to the front row.

In Australia, Dior’s social media influence is seen among the internet’s most-followed faces — from David Jones ambassador Jesinta Campbell to They All Hate Us blogger Elle Ferguson.

INSIDE THE HOUSE OF DIOR

The House of Dior: Seventy Years of Haute Couture, a world-first exhibition, will be unveiled at National Gallery of Victoria this weekend.

Among the 140 garments on display will be the custom-made Dior wedding dress Miranda Kerr, wore when she married Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel (Chiuri designed the couture gown), and Nicole Kidman’s yellow Oscars gown.

It is billed as one of the most extensive exhibitions from the French fashion house since it began in 1947.

The exhibition includes collections sourced from Dior’s archives in Paris, London’s Victorian and Albert and New York’s Metropolitan Museum. Garments once worn by Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard and Charlize Theron also feature.