Outside, Rihanna’s surprise arrival at the Dior haute couture catwalk show was grinding several blocks of central Paris to gridlock. Inside, Maria Grazia Chiuri, the creative director, was discussing the gender politics of fabric as a raw material in art and how Walter Benjamin’s seminal essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction relates to the modern luxury industry.
Dior under Chiuri has become bigger, more profitable, and more high profile than ever before, at the same time as becoming more radical and values-driven. The Lady Dior and Book Tote “It” bags fly out of glitzy airport boutiques; meanwhile, the feminist artist Judy Chicago stars in advertising campaigns.
