From Paris To Mumbai: This Season, Dior’s Savoir Faire Voyage Capsule is Stealing The Spotlight
A handmade Dior trunk, born from a love of craft and precision, honours the creative collaboration at the heart of the maison’s latest collection
“I have been collaborating with the Chanakya workshops over a few decades and this has always been a true privilege, a constant source of inspiration as I established this unique dialogue with a gifted craftsman,” Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri tells Harper’s Bazaar Arabia about the starting point of her Autumn 2023 collection for the house. A collection that was presented with much fanfare against the iconic Gateway of India in Mumbai – the city where Chanakya is based. A central component of the show was to celebrate that longstanding relationship with pieces that focused on the unique skillset of the workshops and how they dovetail beautifully with the artisans inside the house of Dior.
A New Look
The Dior A/W 2023 show boasted a collection of cultural richness, infectious colour and fruitful narrative, highlighting the flora and fauna of India’s magnificent landscapes. A message encapsulated in a diminutive Malle Trunk Voyage which houses an equally impressive matching Micro Lady Dior bag. The accessory duo plays host to the reimagination of Dior’s emblematic toile de jouy print, but this time brought to life with images of elephants, tigers and banyan trees gracing the print. “I really enjoyed celebrating this dialogue between French fashion and Indian craft by revisiting the rich history of textiles shaped by mutual influences,” says Maria Grazia.
Have Trunk, Will Travel
The trunk truly epitomises luxury travel. And much like a hand-drawn map, the story of this creation begins on paper. For many creatives, sketching is a central language of communication, lifting 2D renders off the page and, in this case, transforming them into a six-faced, 12-edged treasure. The precious travel companion is wrapped in printed calfskin, particularly known for its supple softness and fine grain, while its rigorously shaped, wooden structure gives the piece a sense of precedence. At first glance, the trunk is dressed in shades of blue, however, winks of lavish yellows, pinks and lilacs weave their way throughout the print. Each trunk is hand-pressed with gold nails that are evenly spaced along an ink-black leather trim, perfectly framing the expressive toile de jouy print.
A Diminutive Delight
Inside the trunk, a micro version of one of the house’s most iconic bags, the Lady Dior, holds court. It features a lively iteration of the toile de jouy print, coming to life through distinct handmade embroidery and delicate embellishments. Dior’s ateliers meticulously select and examine each leather square to ensure a faultless grain and after carefully tracing around the edges of custom, wooden templates, the skeleton of the Micro Lady Dior takes form. The bag’s embroidery is created with a layering effect using only a long stitch technique designed to build up some aspects of the overall motif to create a sense of dimensionality to the design. A pattern begins to take shape as an Indian landscape, inhabited by wise elephants and regal tigers, comes into focus. Creatures that are then enriched by the addition of colourful glass beads and mirrored embellishments, deftly woven into the oeuvre via a micro-crochet technique. The final touch, the addition of the swaying charms that spell out Dior, marks the completion of this mini marvel.
A Cherished Keepsake
“This collective work, bringing together a new generation of women embroiderers with women artists, in other words, a project which unites female education and empowerment is a great source of pride and joy,” states Maria Grazia. The final woman in this collaborative creative journey is the one who decides to honour the labour of love this duo represents. Bringing them into her home and giving the pair a place of honour that the workmanship has earned.
Photography: Piotr Stoklosa, Courtesy of Dior
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s July/August 2023 Issue.