Dior Fall 2023 Mumbai Fashion Show

Dior Fall 2023 Fashion Show in Mumbai: A Celebration of Indian Craftsmanship. The Christian Dior brand has had a longstanding love affair with India, with its shared history and passions being celebrated in numerous creative dialogues combining innovation and ancestral heritage. The latest pre-fall 2023 show held at the Gateway of India in Mumbai was no exception. The show was Christian Dior’s latest major undertaking, featuring a collaboration with Karishma Swali, who directs the Chanakya ateliers and the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, which brought to life artistic director Maria Grazia Chiuri’s love for embroidery and the craft of India.

The show featured an impressive 99 styles, with many of the styles created in collaboration concerning the choice of color palette, motifs, mirror work, sequins, and crafts. The show was unique in that it featured 23 Indian models, 33 Indian models with international backgrounds, and 43 international ones, carefully chosen to showcase the beautiful fusion of Indian and Western fashion.

The choice of Mumbai for the show was a symbolic one, with the Gateway of India, overlooking the Arabian Sea, being one of the city’s best-loved landmarks. The show's creative concept was taken a step further with the 46-foot “Toran,” a site-specific artwork just below the Gateway itself, realized via a collaboration between the Chanakya Ateliers and Chanakya School of Craft. The female artisans of the Chanakya School of Craft and the master artisans from the Chanakya Atelier handcrafted the Toran as a communal activity, drawing on their own design vocabulary and each choosing which symbols of good fortune to integrate into the piece. The Toran required 35,000 hours of handwork to complete and employed 25 craft techniques, including phulkari, mirror work, French knotting, and kantha.

The craft and embroidery enriched the easy, relaxed silhouettes that Maria Grazia Chiuri favored in the collection, with Madras check and block printing making an appearance on the runway, as did tigers, elephants, and peacocks. The mirror-studded opera jacket was a standout piece, taken to the next level with its fine fabric, keeping it light despite the mirrors, and the use of jali work with small mirrors, embedded pearls, the more ceremonial zardozi embroidery, and aari work.

Maria Grazia Chiuri paid tribute to the past in other ways, showcasing her love for peplum and the drape of the fabric around the body, knotting at the waist. Each collection she wanted to make an important reference, and this season she chose the flower that Christian Dior and his sister Catherine Dior loved, made with different techniques. The school made a 3D flower from organza, which she described as magnificent and a piece of art.

The Mumbai show was a celebration of Indian craftsmanship, showcasing the beauty of Indian embroidery and crafts in a fusion with Western fashion. The location for the show was opportune, with the luxury market in India growing fast. Still, Maria Grazia Chiuri's excitement was clearly focused simply on the art, its creation, and perpetuation, and recognition of couture level background and change.