DIOR Appoints Maria Grazia Chiuri as their first female Creative Director

It’s official, French luxury powerhouse, Dior has confirmed its first ever female creative director in its 60-year history. Working for Valentino for the past 17 years as co-creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri will now be taking over at Christian Dior.

“It is a great honour to be joining the house of Dior; I measure the tremendous responsibility of being the first woman in charge of the creation in a house so deeply rooted in the pure expression of femininity,” the designer said in a statement. “The endless wealth of its heritage continues to be a constant source of inspiration for fashion, and I cannot wait to express my own vision.”

Dior has been short of a creative director since the unexpected resignation of Belgian designer, Raf Simons as of October last year. Although there has been hushed whispers in the field for filling the job, we believe Chiuri is the best fit for the position. She started out as a men’s designer for Pier Paolo Piccioli and the two have been working together since college in the 1980s, when he joined her at Fendi. She will be following the footsteps of infamous fashion giants, Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano.

As the first female creative director, she will have her hand in the Ready to Wear and Haute Couture collections, shoe and handbag branches, as well as the advertising and store design for Dior- Chiuri sure has her hands full. In it’s sixty years of producing womenswear, with its long history of creative directors being male, Chiuri will grace Paris Fashion Week in September with Dior’s first ready-to-wear collection by a woman. Her position was confirmed by Sidney toledo, Christian Dior’s president and chief executive officer of the highly anticipated appointment to WWD only July 8th.

“The idea of hiring a woman is something I had in mind, and this woman was the right one,” Sidney Toledano, president and chief executive officer of Christian Dior said of the appointment. “She’s a very direct person, concrete, pragmatic,” Toledano said to WWD. “She was really challenged and excited by the house of Dior. She has a global understanding of the values of the house.”

Valentino’s Fall 2016 couture show is confirmed to be Chiuri’s last for the house. Her longtime partnership with Pierpaolo Piccioli, will be assuming the role solo. We’re elated to see Chiuri take leadership at Dior and see how she will be propelling the challenges ahead as a female creative director for such an effortless brand; who revolutionized the “New Look” and reestablished Paris as the centre of the fashion world after World War II.

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